


Streets of an Orphaned World

by Jrade



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Betrayal, Canon Autistic Character, Caring, Cohabitation, Developing Relationship, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hawk-i, Humour, Implied Sexual Content, Killing, Kissing, Language, Lesbian Sex, Lesbians in Space, Like pretty heavily implied, Looney Tunes References, Mild Smut, Mildly NSFW?, NOverwatch AU, Original Character(s), Orphans, Reunions, Road Rage, Secret Lairs can be cozy too!, Separations, Sombra gives no shits if people watch, Sombra: Defender of some stuff (when she wants to), Suggestive Themes, Surgery, Symbra, Theft, Threats and Misogyny in Dark Alleyways, Vehicular Combat, cartoons, painful memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-11-28 07:34:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 88,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11413203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jrade/pseuds/Jrade
Summary: In a world where Overwatch never really coalesced, Symmetra has been wandering for quite a while. Since the ongoing war between omnics and humans destroyed the only home and family she'd ever known - Utopaea and the Vishkar Corporation - she has been on the streets, trying to find... something. Something she can't quite put her finger on. A place to fit in, and a way to begin to rebuild.Tonight, though, she ends up on either very much the right streets, or very much the wrong ones: Sombra's streets. Will it be the end of her travels, or the start of something much more than just survival?





	1. Symmetra Wanders Sombra's Streets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: dicky guys are dicks, don't read if you don't want to read that. Graphic depictions are blood, injury, and urine, so... keep that in mind.

“Hey, get the  _ fuck _ back here!”

Symmetra scoffed, rolling her eyes as she sprinted along the cracked and sometimes crumbling sidewalk.  _ And why would I not listen to that? So eloquent. So logical. Of course a fleeing person would simply cease their flight, and return. _

_ Imbecile. _

She dodged a projectile of some sort - the way it split on the wall beside her suggested that it had been a brick - and clenched her teeth tightly together. There was sadly little left that she could do in this situation, save for continue to flee. There were three of them, and they were large and armed; her likelihood of beating them in a fight would be slim.

Of course, her likelihood of survival was nearly one hundred percent. If there was  _ one _ thing Symmetra could do, it was survive.

Some days it felt like the  _ only _ thing she could do.

Survive when her parents perished, to be put into foster care.

Survive the children  _ and _ the adults who refused to recognize her, only wishing to break her instead, and be adopted into Vishkar.

Survive the destruction of Vishkar to end up on the streets of the world, equipped and trained for a life which no longer existed.

Survive the streets to end up here, survive every day in order to see another one and survive it as well.

She felt like a clock. It was an incredibly comforting thought - she could simply keep ticking, and as long as she did, she would still be ticking. That pleasant warmth that came from tautology and self-support settled into her belly.

An alleyway presented itself and she dodged down it, narrowly evading another thrown brick. A gunshot sounded as well, but she didn’t flinch from the sound of it. It was commonplace.

She did not expect someone else to be in the alley, did not expect them to throw out their scrawny leg from behind a dumpster in the path of her feet. She stumbled over that which she did not expect, throwing out a hand to catch herself, metal striking concrete before she whirled around and pushed herself back to her feet.

The three men pursuing her came to the mouth of the alley as the man who had tripped her laughed. Symmetra erected a barrier, impermeable to their pitiful projectiles, and brushed off her shoulder with a smile as the fat leader (one point six metres) fired bullets into it pointlessly. He emptied his clip and she raised her eyebrows equally at him as he reloaded, holding her metal arm out in front of her to keep the shield projected.

“Are you quite finished, or do you wish to continue with this display of stupidity?” Her uniform was a little dirtier than she would’ve liked, and far more tattered, but one day she would return it to its former splendor - she would return it  _ all _ to its former splendor - and for the time being it served as a reminder. For herself and, she hoped, for others as well.

_ Perhaps a warning, in addition. _ Her smile steepened a little at that.

They didn’t seem to notice, though. One of the other two men - the taller one, one point nine metres - nudged the fat one. “Hey, hey boss look at her arm! Look, it’s all metal and shit!”

It had taken Symmetra quite a while (at least, in her own estimations) to learn Spanish, and she still was (frustratingly) not quite fluent. They seemed to delight in pointless catchphrases and slang, in this part of the country at least - it made it difficult for her to precisely follow any given conversation.

Whatever country it even was. It hardly mattered: streets were streets.

The fat man’s eyes went wide as he elbowed the tall one in return. “Like an  _ omnic. _ ” His expression darkened as he stepped forward. “Bitch! Are you an omnic? I was gonna let you go once you gave me my bag back, but now?” He shook his head and Symmetra tucked the bag further behind her back. Technically theft, but he’d stolen the goods to begin with. She would put them to better use.

He shot his handgun at her again, twice, and swore loudly as he stepped forward. Symmetra retreated a pace. “I will not be returning this bag. You can do nothing to harm me - that much should be clear to you. Cease your assault and leave. You have no hope of progress.”

Their eyes gave her a sinking suspicion that they would not be listening to reason. Or perhaps that she had simply misspoken in the unfortunately unfamiliar tongue.

The third man (one point seven three metres) looked at her with an intensity which she particularly disliked, saying nothing for a moment before he gently patted the fat one on the shoulder.

“Hey, boss.” He didn’t take his gaze off of Symmetra. “She’s got one human arm, look. One robot - maybe we should see  _ how many _ robot parts she has?”

Her jaw clenched tight as they started to laugh - that same mocking laughter any group ever had, which sent hot blood prickling to her ears and her scalp. She hated it.

“That will not occur.”

Their laughter only increased at her refusal.

“Bitch it’s not like you can do anything!” The fat one slapped at his leg he was laughing so hard. “You’re stuck in an alleyway and it’s three against one!”

Symmetra’s eyebrows raised slightly. “...and I have a barrier which your futile weapons cannot hope to penetrate. It is a  _ stalemate. _ ”  _ Because of that man who tripped me. _ Her eyes flicked that way momentarily: his eyes glimmered dully in a face that fit in perfectly with the dirt and dust and broken brick of the alleyway. He was as much a part of this place as any of the stones.

She hated stumbling over a stone.

The fat man fired his pistol again, and it of course did nothing. With an angry grunt he pressed it into the tall one’s hand and reached into a backpack the third one wore, pulling out a very old sawed-off shotgun. He emptied it at the barrier and Symmetra sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Are you quite finished?”

The blood rising in his face showed his state quite clearly as he shoved the shotgun at the third one and stepped forward. “Trying to hide all your omnic shit, bitch?” he spat. “We’re gonna find every last  _ piece _ of that shit and  _ tear  _ it out of you! I don’t give two fucks about no fancy-”

His words cut off abruptly as he swung a fist at the barrier. It passed right through. Symmetra caught it in her metal hand, and there was a beat of silence, of stillness, as their eyes met.

The shield blocked all projectiles, but only over a certain threshold velocity. Particle beams or lasers as well, but not swung fists or blades. She didn’t think they would have been intelligent enough to figure out that particular loophole in the barrier’s implementation.

Unfortunately, on occasion, luck was a substitute for intelligence.

“Jump her!” one of them shouted, and Symmetra lashed out with a kick into the fat one’s midriff. He stumbled back from it and she whirled, bringing her foot solidly into the tall one’s jaw. A lifetime of growing up around those who thought they could simply force her hand had taught her some, and the opportunities at Vishkar and afterward had only honed those skills. She knew she was the technically far superior combatant in this skirmish.

Unfortunately, on occasion, brute strength overtook technical skill.

The third one grabbed at her clothing and was met with a metal fist to his nose, he staggered as the fat one leapt forward and Symmetra ducked under him, spinning to knock out the legs of the tall one - but now they were on all sides of her. Thick, meaty arms wrapped around her from behind and lifted her off her feet; she lashed out and caught the tall one in the stomach, but the third planted a fist deeply in her gut. He followed it up with one across the jaw before the fat one threw her into one of the walls. A lifetime of abuse had given her a quite substantial resistance to pain.

Unfortunately, on occasion, sadistic determination exceeded pain tolerance.

A flurry of blows met her quickly enough that she couldn’t track them - fists and feet against her ribs, her face, her gut, pressing her back against the wall but at least she could remain upright. At least she could stand. After a moment they withdrew a bit, panting and laughing darkly and looking at the fruits of their labours. Symmetra was bleeding from her lips and nose, crumpling to one side where at least one rib was broken, she was sure. She stood, yes, but only thanks to the brick behind her and a determination not to kneel.

The three men eyed their conquest and each debated for themselves what they should do next. The fat man, the one in charge, didn’t care one way or another - by the next sunrise, that half-omnic bitch was going to be dead, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have a little fun first. There were three of them and only one of her, and she was thoroughly and obviously beaten. They had strength, numbers, and everything else on their side.

Fortunately, on occasion, surprise can overcome any other factor.

As Symmetra watched, the air in front of her blurred, purple motes of light dancing across it and resolving into hexagons, pixelated shapes, and then there was a blast of frantically fast gunfire. The fat one doubled over and sank to his knees, clutching at his groin with an anguished cry as the blurry pixels resolved into a person - a woman outfitted in black and purple, hair shaved on one side and swooping long on the other. A woman who kicked the fat man in the face.

“I told you I’d shoot them off the next time I saw you, you piece of shit!” The other two men recoiled, scrambling for their weapons which they’d dropped in the melee, but the woman - whoever she was - shot the ground past them to bring them to a halt. 

“I don’t think so.” Her voice was as precise as her movements, neither of them leaving any leeway or ambiguity. “You’ll be leaving the guns. You all should have known better than to come here. You  _ never _ get another warning.”

She stepped closer to them, eyes burning coldly. “I  _ ever _ see you again? You’re dead. You’ll never see me coming.”

The tall man nodded but the third - the one who’d first suggested stripping Symmetra to check her for mechanical parts - leapt suddenly for the handgun. His corpse landed heavily on it amidst a cacaphonic stream of gunfire from the woman. “Bad move.”

Her gaze dropped in disgust to the fat man whimpering on the ground, blood dripping out from between his fingers. She spat on him and kicked him again, twice. “Now get the  _ fuck _ out of here before I lose my temper.”

She kept her gun trained on them as they turned and fled, the one not stopping to help his injured leader who limped after him with cries and threats. She waited until they were gone entirely and then, with a scoff, turned around.

Symmetra brought her barrier up again instinctively, instantly, and was met with a machine pistol being pointed directly at her face. The bright blue shield flickered slightly as Symmetra gritted her teeth, meeting the other woman’s gaze. Purple eyes, purple-tinged hair, purple outfit, purple everything, but that was where any symmetry ended. The look in her eyes, too, was confusing.

They always were to Symmetra.

“You’re  _ welcome, _ ” the purple woman murmured pointedly in English, eyebrows drawing down and together - seemingly muttering to herself more than actually trying to communicate with Symmetra.

“I would have survived.” Symmetra kept her barrier up though she could feel her strength fading. To her last breath, though, she would fight.  _ Just keep ticking. Good little clock. _

The purple woman laughed, outright, shaking her head. The dyed tips of her hair bounced as she did. “Oh, you speak English? Alright, fine - but seriously? I save your ass and  _ that’s _ how you want to play it?” She leaned back a little, gesturing a hand in a circle in front of her, frowning considerately - almost teasing. “All of… this?”

Symmetra frowned a little. “I would have survived without you. I am perfectly capable on my own.”

The woman’s lips split in a wide, lopsided grin which Symmetra didn’t like, but at least her teeth  _ weren’t _ purple, so it could have been worse. “Oh, I’m sure you could have. I never said I saved your life - I saved your  _ ass _ ,  _ chica. _ Trust me, I’ve heard enough about Rico’s preferences.” She dropped her smile and her eyes took on a colder gleam. “ _ You’re welcome.” _

Symmetra swallowed heavily. It hurt to breathe. She was bleeding, weakened, the three had overcome her and this new woman had overcome then. Symmetra knew what that meant for her own chances. The logic was inescapable.

She dropped the barrier, and her head as well. “Thank you.”

With a laugh, the purple woman lowered her gun. “There, was that so hard? Attagirl,  _ chica - _ Sombra, pleased to meet you,” she bowed slightly as she held out her hand. Symmetra took it, hesitantly, and shook.

“Symmetra.”

“Great - just one second,  _ chica, _ ” Sombra held up a finger and spun almost whimsically on the balls of her feet, bringing her gun to bear again - point blank against the head of the man who had tripped Symmetra a moment ago. He whimpered and tried to recoil into the wall.

“Wait-” Symmetra stepped forward and Sombra glanced back with a curious eyebrow.

“...alright, fair enough,” she took a step back and crossed her arms. She tipped her head toward the terrified man. “You get him.”

Symmetra frowned a little as she drew near to him, crouching down with a frown on her face. He was dirty, wretched, terrified. He smelled bad. A puddle of urine seeped slowly away from him and Symmetra recoiled a little, shuffling sideways to avoid its advance. She was certainly not free from the grasping clutches of the world’s despair, but he seemed completely overtaken by them. Lost to them, entirely.

“There will come a day,” she whispered, leaning forward and meeting his eyes for long enough that he looked away, “when this world will end. From the ashes of it, a new one will rise. When that day comes, you do not want to be the sort of man who trips women in alleyways.”

He shook his head, murmuring incoherently and frantically. Symmetra only smiled slightly. “Good. Then  _ don’t be. _ Wash yourself off and pick yourself up from the ground. No other will do it for you. You are disgusting. Change it. If you do not, neither the world nor I will be kind.”

She stood swiftly, taking a much deeper breath as she escaped the range of his noxious fumes. The man collapsed into a blubbering heap as Symmetra stepped past him to leave the alleyway. She didn’t know if he’d understood, and she didn’t care - it was not her job nor that of anyone else to lessen themselves for another’s benefit. It was, however, a duty to guide where possible. Where it didn’t interfere.

Sombra glanced between the odd woman and the sobbing man with a raised eyebrow, shrugging fluidly. “Alrighty then, that’s one way to do it,” she muttered to herself and then jogged a few paces to catch up with Symmetra.

“So,  _ chica, _ ” she pushed her arm through Symmetra’s, linking them at the elbows. Symmetra tried to pull her arm free but Sombra caught it with her other hand, idly, without looking - as if she didn’t even notice - and held it firmly in place. Her eyes studied the stars overhead.

“Here’s what I’m thinking. You come all this way and end up on my streets, I help you out a little - I figure, you can pay me back with a drink.” She flashed a grin to Symmetra. “Or six.”

Symmetra raised her eyebrows slightly before glancing around airily. “Oh,  _ your  _ streets, are they? I don’t see your name anywhere.”

Sombra snickered, squeezing her arm a little tighter. “Ah, I like you,  _ chica!  _ Yeah, I’ll let you buy me a bunch of drinks I think…”

“How kind of you,” Symmetra murmured, smirking slightly. She hardly cared in the long run - no amount of money would gain her her goals. She could not buy her way out of squalor, no person could anymore. The omnics had made sure of that, running rampant and unimpeded across the globe’s surface. The only possibility now was to  _ make _ a home, and she alone could do it.

“Nice monkey suit, by the way,” Sombra spoke softly, eyes forward as Symmetra looked over. “Vishkar, right? Tell me, what’s up with that hard-light stuff? That sounds like some pretty  _ interesting _ tech you’ve got there, and I love interesting tech.”

“You know of the Vishkar Corporation?” Symmetra frowned slightly. Back home the name had been widely known even after the company’s collapse, but this far abroad she was admittedly somewhat surprised to find recognition. Perhaps it meant things would not be so bad here - if this woman knew Vishkar, knew of hard light, then perhaps an arrangement could be reached. A balance of power.

Sombra turned to her with a wide grin and almost excited eyes. “Oh,  _ chica _ , there’s nobody I  _ don’t _ know and few who haven’t heard of me. Sure, you may not see my name in the streets… but you say it in the right places?” She chuckled. “Oh, people  _ know _ Sombra - and there’s only three kinds of people in this world,  _ chica.”  _

She held a fist near her head, popping up purple-clawed fingers as she counted the three off. “People I haven’t met yet, friends, and enemies.” She used her thumb, index, and middle fingers; a moment later her ring finger joined them as a thoughtful frown flicked across her face. “And people I’ve killed, I guess, but I don’t know if they really count.”

Returning her gaze to the front, Sombra laughed lightly in the chilled night air. Symmetra found herself unable to quite tear her eyes free of the patterns both shaved into and partly hidden beneath the short hair on the side of Sombra’s head and more toward the back. They were entrancing, Symmetra’s gaze traced every line exactly as it turned back on itself again and again.

“Only question is,  _ chica, _ ” Sombra didn’t turn her head but her grin widened a little and her eyes flicked that way, “which one do  _ you _ want to be? Number one’s off the table, now - and I’ve gotta warn you, number three tends to turn into number four pretty damn quick.”

Symmetra swallowed lightly, pulling her gaze to the empty street in front of her. A purplish-pink stylized pixelated skull popped out at her, spraypainted in one of the alleys.  _ Her streets.  _ Symmetra’s mind flicked back to the woman’s appearance, as if from nowhere.  _ Never see her coming. _ The corpse in the alleyway.  _ Bad move. _

The former Vishkar agent was no fool - she didn’t bother trying to pull free of the arm linked in hers. There was a certain comfort in knowing where the power lay, even if it wasn’t in your hands. “I believe… I am rapidly coming to understand the draw of friendship.”

Sombra chuckled, slipping her arm free of Symmetra’s to slide it behind her instead, patting her far shoulder and leaving it there. “You know, I  _ thought _ you might say something like that,  _ amiga _ . You know, Louie, I think this might be the start of a beautiful friendship…”

“Who is Louie?”

“Huh?” Sombra quirked an eyebrow. “No, the- like in Casablanca?”

Symmetra frowned slightly. “The city on the Mediterranean coastline? I fail to see the relevance.”

“What? No, the movie. Really?” Sombra looked over incredulously. “You’ve never seen Casablanca - never even  _ heard _ of it? I mean, I know it’s old, but…”

She looked back with a slight frown. “I have not. Is its content important?”

“Eh,” Sombra shrugged a shoulder, leading the way into the night, “maybe, maybe not. I’ll tell you this, though - of all the bars in all the world,  _ we’re _ going into _that_ one.” She turned them abruptly to the side and led Symmetra through the swinging doors of a bar whose name she couldn’t even discern.

The bar didn’t react to their entry in the slightest, for which Symmetra found herself slightly relieved. She’d made enough impressions and drawn enough attention for one night, and found that she wanted to duck out from underneath Sombra’s arm even less in here than she had on the streets. This was quite foreign territory to her, and she knew she struggled with blending in at the best of times.

This was the sort of place where sticking out could cause many problems, and quickly.

People filled the space, packing it tightly enough that Symmetra’s shoulders drew inward instinctively. She found herself breathing only very shallow, and holding the breaths whenever possible, trying to make the most of what little space there was - but Sombra, it seemed, was afforded space. Symmetra tried to pull herself as much as possible into the little bubble that opened up as the purple woman strode through the bar - while nobody looked their way, people seemed to notice Sombra’s proximity.

“Well, hey there,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra murmured as she flashed Symmetra a grin. The Vishkar agent was practically clinging to her at this point, and looked back with a sort of forcedly blank panic in her eyes.

“I do not like crowds.”

Sombra chuckled with a shrug. “Fair enough. Me? I love ‘em - don’t even need camo to disappear.” She snapped her fingers as they approached a bar, and one person hopped out of their seat with a grunt. Another man in a leather vest acted as if he hadn’t noticed.

All she had to do was gesture. A large woman grabbed the man in the vest and pulled him off of his stool. “We’re dancing now,” she muttered in Spanish. “Idiot.”

With a light laugh, Sombra hopped up onto the bar stool as Symmetra took hers more fluidly. Sombra gestured to the bartender and a moment later there were four tall double shot-glasses lined up in front of them, filled to the point of dribbling down the outside of the glass with a golden-yellow liquid. Symmetra suspected it was tequila.

“Hey,  _ amiga, _ you sprung for the good stuff!” Sombra laughed. “Man, you must _ really _ like me! Or you’re loaded, either way.” She took a pair of shotglasses, pressing one into Symmetra’s hesitant hand and then raising her own in a toast, meeting eyes with a grin. “Here’s looking at you, kid…”


	2. Introductions, or Induction?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a chance meeting, Sombra takes Symmetra to a bar. There is a fair bit of chatting and swapping of stories as the worlds of each woman are brought a little more to light - as is the world within which they both live - and Symmetra's first introduction to alcohol isn't exactly without its pitfalls, but there are upsides if she's willing to look for them.
> 
> That is, until things take a drastic turn for the possibly horrifying - and they don't get better quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not a one-shot anymore, I made it episodic, so >.>
> 
> Enjoy, Symbra fans! Not gonna lie it's gonna be a little dark, but have faith in me that there is light at the end of that tunnel.
> 
> Presuming we make it through alive, that is.
> 
> Warning: Symmetra has a bit of trouble in this one and has to employ a few coping mechanisms, I try to detail a little bit of the process of actually having an episode like that (or at least, some of the things that happen with me) so be forewarned if you're prone to the same, as this might spur them on. I know it kind of did to write them, but hey, that means it's working, right?

The golden liquid burned Symmetra’s throat as she swallowed it, the whole huge mouthful at once, and she almost choked. Clutching one hand at her throat and the other at the bar, her eyes widened as she clenched her jaw shut to keep from crying out. Her fingernails strained against the wood for several seconds before it started to subside. Slowly but surely she regained control over her body.

“Oh, that’s _good_ stuff, eh _amiga?”_ Sombra chuckled throatily and slid the other shot toward Symmetra. “Burns _just_ right.”

“It’s _meant_ to do that?” Symmetra’s normally full voice was thin with strain and a little raspy, and she coughed slightly.

The hacker, on the other hand, laughed outright. “Well _of course_ it is, _amiga!_ You saying you’ve never had tequila before?”

Symmetra shook her head, lifting the shot gently between metal fingers to inspect it closely in the light. “Correct. Intoxicants of the sort were banned in the Vishkar Corporation, and I never saw the purpose of such a thing at any point afterward.”

“The _point?”_ Sombra cackled briefly, slapping a hand flat on the bar. “Well, the point is to get _drunk_ , _amiga!”_

“I’ve witnessed intoxication plenty enough to know that it hardly seems like something for which to strive,” she murmured. Her eyebrows drew together as she sniffed at the shot of tequila. It _smelled_ good, smooth in a way which didn’t match its flavour in the slightest.

Sombra snorted, gesturing to the bartender for something. “Hey, it’s got its upsides. Pretty easy to let the bullshit slide, know what I mean? Besides, there’s gotta be a reason you took the first shot, right?”

Symmetra frowned a little, glancing over. “You handed it to me. You were drinking one of your own. It seemed to be a… bonding situation.”

Another snort as the bartender returned with limes and salt, cinnamon and oranges, a knife, and a full bottle of El Jimador. “That’s one way of saying it, _chica -_ yeah, bonding, sure. Lemme tell you, though: if you’ve never had tequila before?” Her grin widened, teeth and eyes glittering in the dim bar lighting. “You’re in for a hell of a night.”

As Sombra cut off and picked up a slice of lime, then licked the back of her other hand and sprinkled salt on it, Symmetra’s frown just deepened. This had all of the hallmark signs of something she wasn’t likely to understand, but at least it seemed easy enough to go along with.

There was still some slight question as to what she would gain, but that was really answered readily enough. Sombra’s gun hadn’t been seen in a while, and nobody in the place seemed to want to pick a fight with her, to be sure. If Symmetra could stay close enough to take advantage of that bubble…

There was also a question of just _why_ the purple woman seemed so alternately feared and revered, which very much hummed around in Symmetra’s head. The woman clearly had power. _What is its source?_

She’d always been told how useful social networking could be.

“Like this, _amiga,_ ” Sombra instructed. Then, she went about the shot: licking the salt off the back of her hand, tossing the double shot back, and then biting heavily into the lime wedge. Her eyes screwed up and she made a noise, muffled by the fruit, and slapped her hand down on the table.

She spat out the lime and followed it with a swift string of Spanish words Symmetra couldn’t follow, but she was quite certain they were swears. “ _Damn_ that’s good! Oh, you’re gonna tip this barkeep big, _amiga -_ your turn.”

Symmetra just looked back blankly for a moment, and Sombra rolled her eyes with a sigh. “Here, just-” She cut another slice of lime, pressed it into Symmetra’s palm, and then raised her hand and licked the back of it. Symmetra’s eyes widened a little bit and a bit of a shot of cold sank into her gut, but it was over now anyway.

Just surprising, that was all.

Then, Sombra crossed her arms and waited expectantly. Symmetra was a little surprised, though, that she didn’t seem to be judgemental in her excitement. Discerning emotions from expression or body language or tone had never really been a strong suit (or so she’d been informed) but it seemed to her as if Sombra were almost… excited.

“Very well,” she murmured, glancing down at the items in and on her hands. The order was simple enough to remember, and she definitely appreciated that a lot more than the last shot. Salt, liquid, lime - the flavours piled into one another like vehicles, and the resulting clash was sour and sharp and smooth, and burned surprisingly less.

Symmetra hummed in shock as she chewed at the lime pulp a little, trying to smile around the wedge before she spat it onto the bar just as she’d watched Sombra do. “I- I liked that one much more,” she admitted, looking wide-eyed at the empty shot glass.

The purple-haired hacker took it with a snicker to refill it from the bottle. “You’re like a frickin’ puppy, _chica_ , this is great. Man, you liked that? You’re gonna _love_ the next one…”

The next one, as it turned out, was much like the last - the lime was substituted with orange, the salt with cinnamon, and this time Symmetra licked her _own_ hand. The other one, of course. That part was still a little unsavoury, but as they both took their shots at the same time - in unison through the three steps, which was simply _wonderful_ and sent a little shiver down her spine - Symmetra found that she was quite liking this. If all social networking could be carried out in this fashion, as simple and pleasant as mimicry, then perhaps it could even be a regular pastime.

“Mm, very good, yes,” Symmetra nodded, but another glass was being pressed into her hand already. “Another one? How many are we-” A finger met her lips and she leaned back from it, but it followed her.

“Shh. Talking time later - now? We drink.”

The tequila flowed freely. Whenever Symmetra had finished one shot, it was replaced almost immediately by another and matched by one for Sombra as well. Other types of alcohol came to join the tequila, either mixing together or poured straight, and more glasses and paraphernalia. It became a dizzying whirlwind of things Symmetra didn’t comprehend, and the breakneck pace of it did cause a bit of rising tension within her.

There _was_ a pattern to it, though - one that stretched past the specificity of the individual arrangements of shots. A sort of overarching homogeny to the way it all took place which, once she recognized it, did help to quell her rising unsettlement.

Sombra had a plan with it, of course - Sombra _always_ had a plan. Behind the excited eyes and the cheering-on, behind the easy grin and the uproarious laugh, she was always planning ahead.

She knew about the Vishkar corporation, alright - knew that they’d built a city in a day, that their Architechs had been capable of creating anything they could imagine, and knew that not just anyone could pick it up. They’d risen quickly, and any rising star draws attention: the God-programs had noticed the capabilities of the Vishkar Corporation and decided that they would serve well. Vishkar had found themselves besieged, their city destroyed and their people scattered to the winds.

That was when it had become evident that working the corporation’s technology was no simple task. Try as they might, the God-programs and the omnics under their control were unable to succeed in making it work correctly: Sombra had found video of the machines’ attempts. Some of the failures were laughable. Some were horrific.

All in all, Sombra didn’t mind omnics. Several had helped her out on various occasions, and there were a lot who she was happy to count on or to swap stories with. The God-programs, though, as far as she was concerned - and every one of their mindless slave-bots - could burn forever in the fiery and agonizing depths of hell.

Still, even with that in mind, when she’d seen footage of an Eradicator unit with a prototype hard-light generator on it undergo a malfunction and begin to disintegrate as the generator ripped it to pieces - particle by particle by particle - Sombra had to admit that it was a pretty painful fate to imagine.

She _did_ like hearing it scream, though.

The omnic armies had never succeeded in working with the hard light technology, and it (and Vishkar itself) had slipped largely into the dark and cloudy annals of destruction left in the war’s wake. So much and so many had been lost beneath their metal feet that it was easy for one company in India to get forgotten.

Sombra, though, never forgot, and she dug out every iota of information she could that had any chance of helping her survive. The idea that she could one day figure out how to create something from nothing? Well, that was a pretty big survival tactic.

Now, it was sitting right next to her. Short-cropped hair and dark skin, eyes that looked confused and hesitant and determined all at once, and a decade-old outfit of a company that no longer existed, but she had that _arm_ and she could _build._ She could build a life out of nothing, and if there was anyone who wanted to have a key to those doors, it was Sombra.

It didn’t hurt that Symmetra was kind of cute and endearing, too. Sombra watched her drink - for the first time, apparently - and doubted it would take long at all to get her to shed a few layers of security. Alcohol was a _fabulous_ lubricant for lips and minds.

There was only one problem.

...it didn’t seem to be working.

Symmetra matched her shot for shot, drink for drink, keeping pace with her. It was like looking in some sort of carnival mirror, mimicking her exactly but with a slightly different form to it, and there didn’t seem to be any effects. Symmetra wasn’t swaying, wasn’t slurring, wasn’t laughing excessively - none of the telltale signs that Sombra expected.

Hell, at this point, _she_ was even feeling pretty fuzzy. Her head swirled a little, her gut a little more than that, and everything between felt deliciously warm.

“How you doing over there, _amiga?”_ Sombra grinned, every bit the mildly-concerned friend.

Symmetra sat stock-still, hands flat on the bar in front of her on either side of a full shot-glass. Alcohol of some sort, cloudy white, dripped down through a golden layer into deep red at the bottom where it sent up little ripples, fluid within fluid failing to mix and interacting in an interesting display of specific gravities.

Slowly, she frowned. “I believe I am experiencing some effects.”

Sombra broke down laughing for a few seconds, doubling over and leaning heavily on the bar. “Some effects? Damn _chica_ , you sound like a machine!”

“I am _not!”_ Symmetra protested loudly, spinning to face the hacker but her inner ears protested and the world swirled, caused her to latch on to the bar’s edge with her prosthetic hand. A little colour rose to her cheeks, darkening them further.

It had been enough of an insult when she was a child, when it was a blade that cut her further away from everybody else - Satya doesn’t feel, Satya doesn’t care, Satya doesn’t know how to act. Satya’s _not human._ Stupid Satya, silly Satya, put her in the corner and never let her out.

They were fools anyway. What did she care what they said or did? She didn’t. Everyone always reminded her that she didn’t care.

Then, though, the omnics had come and destroyed the world - _her_ world - and it had become a slight she could no longer ignore. The blade twisted, deeper and deeper, driven by hatred and repetition and pain. _Symmetra_ was not willing to accept such an insult.

Sombra’s eyebrows raised and she snorted dismissively. “Geeze, soft spot much? Relax, _chica_.”

Symmetra’s eyes glistened a little as her jaw tensed up. Her gut roiled, hot and slimy as she fought to keep herself under control - to keep herself from all of the things that had only ever made things worse, from flailing or shouting or crying or any of others. Her skin crawled with it and felt uncomfortable, she wished she could just strip it all off but she couldn’t, she knew.

It was a struggle. It was one she’d encountered her whole life, and one that repeated failures had hardly seemed to help. Time and time and time again she ended up in the same place, hot and squirming and uncomfortable, wanting to scream and slam her head against the wall. Sometimes, she had - sometimes she _did_ and it never went away, it just made people look at her oddly and avoid her even more.

Good. She didn’t want them nearby anyway.

Her mind spiralled a little, caught on a word that she wasn’t even certain she’d heard, on a memory or a hundred from the lifetime she’d lived.

“I’m not.” Soft words, almost desperate. Symmetra clenched a fist, her nails digging into her palm a little bit. She turned abruptly back to the bar and stared at the shot again, tried not to listen, didn’t breathe or anything just sat and started to count. Unseen beside her, she began to run her thumb along her forefinger - second knuckle to third and back, and back again, over and over in time with the numbers. It helped. It helped enough.

The hot, frantic energy in her gut and up her spine, that painful itch, started to subside. She shivered a little, adjusting her shoulders as they felt uncomfortable, the joints all fitting just wrong. Everything felt just wrong, and she hated it.

Sombra just watched with an eyebrow raised, as her drinking companion seemed to have some kind of little fit. In a moment or two, she calmed down, and Sombra considered her options. A big part of her wanted to needle further (because who _doesn’t_ want to get to the bottom of shit like that?) but another part realized that things were a little tenuous, and it might not be worth pushing.

Yet.

“Hey, _amiga,_ it’s alright,” she shrugged. “I didn’t even mean it that way.”

Symmetra cleared her throat. “I… okay. I apologize, it is… a sensitive topic.”

“Yeah, I get it.” The hacker’s tone turned a little more somber, a little less teasing. “We’ve all lost to them. _Mi familia?_ Ripped to pieces, and I wish I just meant metaphorically.” She shook her head, purple-tipped hair bobbing slightly. _If it hadn’t been them, it would’ve been drug lords, or the army, or some_ **_other_ ** _army, or whatever. Growing up there was only ever gonna end one way._

It was a little bit - just a _little_ bit - satisfying that these days practically everyone was an orphan. These days practically everyone was homeless. She felt a bit less broken for it.

“That’s why we gotta stick together.” Symmetra looked over abruptly at the words, surprised to see Sombra already looking back at her, purple eyes burning with determination. After a moment Symmetra looked away - she’d been told that she wasn’t to make eye contact for too long - but when Sombra _didn’t_ , she let her eyes return and locked gazes again.

“New family, _comprend_ é _?_ Stick together, and watch each other’s backs.” Neither of them blinked, nor broke eye contact.

Symmetra slowly frowned. “I understand.” It was hardly a novel concept, although it was one that she thought simply didn’t translate to this new world. In Vishkar, it had been the entirety of existence - no person in Utopaea had carried out every function. Every person had one, or perhaps a few, and reliance was key. They were all part of the society, one piece of the machine, and together they could accomplish anything.

She still remembered the utter elation of raising her first extension of the city. It had been built swiftly in the first place, but continued to evolve as the needs of Vishkar shifted; an ideal world that changed to fit the requirements of its citizens, as they changed in turn to fit the world around them. The perfect mesh of organic and designed.

Then the God-programs had shredded it to pieces and tried to use it as fuel in their war-machine, and Symmetra’s world had burned. This new one seemed to have no place for it, no opportunity for trust. At first, it had taken much from her.

She’d learned. She _always_ learned.

Sombra nodded, not sure that the other woman _did_ understand, but it didn’t really matter. As long as she didn’t freak out too much for things to work out, it made no difference. “Okay. We got some stuff to work on, but hey,” she leaned back, all of the ease returning as she gestured loosely and grinned, “I love a project! Seriously, though, _how_ are you handling all that drink this well?”

Symmetra looked back to the shot-glass in front of her. The contents had long since intermingled past the point of discernibility, and that made her feel distinctly uncomfortable but it hardly mattered. It would mix in her stomach regardless - although that was an uncomfortable thought as well. She chose not to think about it.

“There are definite effects,” she nodded slightly, thoughtfully, musing as much as speaking really. “I have noticed my balance being much more precarious than normal, and it is requiring a truly _tremendous_ amount of concentration to speak correctly.” She laughed abruptly as a thought occurred to her. “It’s more difficult than my first construct was!”

It was the first time Sombra had heard her laugh, and she liked it. It was somehow impossible to think that it might be faked or forced - come to think of it, a lot about Symmetra was. It was way too awkward for that, like it was even catching her by surprise. “You saying you think you’d be fine to _build_ shit like this?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Symmetra grinned, her eyebrows bouncing slightly. She raised her prosthetic hand in front of her, palm up. Then her other hand tented overtop of it, fingers dancing as light began to swirl.

Sombra tried to watch with an analytical detachment, but a combination of wonder and alcohol drove her into genuine excitement instead as the light started to take shape. “No way!” She laughed and even clapped a little as Symmetra worked, and a few seconds later, she was holding out a brand-new shot-glass. Sombra took it and stared in wonder.

Symmetra smiled a little. It was quite gratifying to have her talents recognized. She felt a little bit - just a _little_ bit - like she was back at Vishkar again, being admired for her skill. There was something different about it, though. Sombra was emphatic about it, openly giggling as she tapped the glass against the counter to check its properties.

“Damn, that’s-” she shook her head as she picked up the bottle of tequila, filling the glass. “That’s _incredible, amiga!_ I mean, I’ve seen it before on video and stuff, but in person?” She drank the tequila down and giggled again. “That’s crazy!”

Symmetra wasn’t sure she’d ever really giggled, but she did now. Something about the warmth of the alcohol combined with Sombra’s actions - perhaps along with the fact that she’d been mimicking her for hours now with the drinking, she couldn’t be sure - brought it out of her. A genuine giggle.

“So are there any limits?” Sombra raised an eyebrow, setting the glass down and trying to turn the conversation back around - but also just legitimately interested at this point.

Symmetra tipped her head to one side slightly. “Some. Primarily, the person in control. For some of Vishkar’s Architechs, physical constructs were the extent of capability - tables, chairs, support beams. For the more skilled, like myself?” Her grin blossomed a little wider as she looked back to the ceiling. “The _sky_ was the limit, if that! Working mechanisms, electronic components, it - I wove things from light that the world only _dreamed_ of!”

The grin dropped from her face, slowly, as it all came crashing down. Just like Vishkar had. Just like Utopaea had. “And it- it… it wasn’t enough.” She clenched down on it all, stopping anything from getting out of control - shutting down whatever wouldn’t listen to her. Her face became stony as she cleared her throat, as if it were a carving. A mask.

“Yeah, I heard,” Sombra shrugged a shoulder. “If it helps, they haven’t had one shitty spot of luck getting your stuff to work for them.”

“What?” Symmetra whirled slightly, her vision blurring a little and refusing to return to clarity quickly. “They- the omnics are trying to assimilate Vishkar’s hard-light technology?”

“Well, yeah,” Sombra snickered. “I mean, wouldn’t you? Who would take down someone like that and then just let it all go to waste?” She laughed, patting her hand on the bar. “Man, I’ve seen _so many_ machines get destroyed trying to work that shit out. They’re so bad at it - I just love watching them _fail_ like that!”

Her eyes flicked to an omnic nearby, on the edge of the dance floor, who was looking back. “No offence.”

The black-painted bot with bright neon designs scoffed mechanically. “Those fuckers are no friends of mine.”

Sombra nodded once. It was a pretty standard reaction, really. A lot of omnics - probably most of the ones who could think for themselves - were fine. Well, they were just as likely to be assholes as any human - which was to say that overall they were pretty shitty, but there were a few worthwhile ones in there.

Symmetra hadn’t moved. She sat, staring, eyes unfocused, as her mind churned heavily. It felt like she was trying to think through treacle, her mind wouldn’t move swiftly and little thoughts seemed to get lost along the side.

“You okay there, _amiga?_ ”

“You said they have failed?”

“Yeah. A bunch of times - they’ve been trying ever since they took down Utopia.”

“Utopaea,” Symmetra corrected the pronunciation. “Are they still attempting?”

Sombra shrugged. “Probably. Didn’t seem like they were making any headway, from what I saw.”

“The process would likely be difficult for them to grasp.” The words were as much for Symmetra to reassure herself as to explain anything. “It is difficult enough for humans, only few can ever develop the skills required and even fewer can master them.”

“Like you?” Sombra teased with a smirk.

“Yes, like me.” Symmetra didn’t decipher the tone, and didn’t notice the gesture. “I was the pride of Vishkar, the most capable Architech amongst their ranks; I was a prodigy.”

There was a moment of silence as Sombra made a face and drank a swig of tequila straight from the bottle.

“If they succeed-”

“They won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Sombra grinned, looking back conspiratorially with narrowed eyes. “Oh, trust me, _amiga_ , I keep an eye on them. I keep an eye on _everyone_. How do you think I knew about Vishkar, hmm? How did you think I knew about you, Satya?”

Her blood ran a little colder. “I never told you that name,” she murmured softly, but Sombra never stopped talking.

“I mean, how do you think I knew you were _in town?_ You think I don’t keep an eye on all the docks, all the airports, all the border crossings? You think I don’t have a list of interesting people? Oh, I do, _amiga_ , and you’ve been on it for a while. You were a prodigy, alright.”

Sombra turned and grinned at her widely, and Symmetra tried to back away but there was nowhere to go. That leering smile was everywhere, those purple eyes - she could never escape those. “Prodigies _never_ escape notice. I know I didn’t! They never found me, though, but if you don’t think _they’re_ looking for you too, you’re an idiot.”

“The God-programs?”

Sombra chuckled darkly as the room began to spin. “Oh, _chica_ , this is so much bigger than some self-deluded code segments…”

Everything shifted to black and swirled sharply, Symmetra slumped forward off of her stool but Sombra caught her and hitched her up over one shoulder. Somebody came close and tried to offer to help but Sombra swatted their hand away. They tried again and this time she swatted with claws; the person yelped and withdrew.

Her arm wrapped up protectively around Symmetra as she shouldered her way through the bar and out of the door. With a swirl of her hand they both disappeared, when the door swung back into the bar they were invisible and she could walk unseen and unafraid.

 _Nobody_ was getting her hands on the Architech - nobody except _Sombra_. Seeing her make that glass, and even just talking to her, had only solidified it. The decision had been made long ago, but tonight it had become a little more than just acquiring the favours of a person of interest.

Now it was personal, as well.

Sombra went through an alleyway, took a turn, and walked straight toward a dumpster. She didn't slow in the slightest or step to the side, she walked directly through the dumpster which shimmered slightly as she passed through the holographic illusion. It definitely _looked_ there, though. Making something appear was no harder than making herself vanish from sight. Easier, even, because here the apparition was constant and static.

Behind the illusion was a concrete tunnel, stretching down and inward. Originally it had been part of an expansion to the subway system. Sombra had better plans for it, though - it made an _excellent_ base for a person who didn’t exist. Reminded her a little of her childhood, too, at first - she’d spent much time in subways when nowhere else kept out the rain - and she made it into a new home.

A few doors which would only react to her touch, and a series of turrets which would shred anybody except her to pieces, completed the security. As soon as she made it through the final door the look of everything changed drastically - concrete floors became covered in rugs, furniture primarily made of wood and heavily cushioned was scattered everywhere. Bright colours, hanging fabrics, knick-nacks. To Sombra, it felt like home - at least a little bit.

She laid Symmetra down on a bed and tugged a blanket over her, then patted her on the shoulder. “Nobody’s gonna find you here, _”_ she murmured softly. “Welcome home, _amiga…”_

Then, she had a few things to check up on. She snapped her fingers as she walked along and every light in the place went dark, but she strode along without hesitation, by memory, crossing the large open room that made up most of her home and making her way to a smaller room off to one side.

Originally it had been intended as a security room for the subway, which made it _perfect_ for her purposes. High-power feeds and rapid data lines, along with blast-resistant doors with triple locks - which she’d shored up even a little further, of course. In here, there were no rugs or hanging fabrics, and the only bright colours were electric neons that glowed.

She sighed as she leaned back into a chair, tightly suspended black mesh stretched over a metal frame that was free to swivel. Twirling in a little circle, Sombra giggled and waved her hands, bringing a half-dozen screens to float in front of her, purple glow lighting her face in the dark room.

Out there, yeah, it felt homey, but this? This was where she was _really_ at home. In her element, properly. One screen showed a constant feed from a camera outside while the others started to run through other things - a little widget she’d coded that kept an eye on anybody _else_ who might be keeping an eye on Symmetra, another one which actually tracked the ex-Vishkar agent’s whereabouts. It was now blank, with no idea of where she’d ended up.

 _“Perfecto,_ ” she purred with a wide, sharky grin. If _she_ couldn’t find Symmetra, then nobody else could. Sombra swiped a hand, purple claws glowing as she dismissed the program which had tracked Symmetra across continents. It had been running for almost a year, now, but Sombra was nothing if not patient.

Finally, though, it had popped up a nice little notification - and all in all, the night had gone well. Getting to shoot Rico’s _cojones_ off was icing on the cake, and the fact that it had all come out as doing Symmetra a favour was perfect. Sombra always loved it when a plan came together.

Her thoughts drifted a little bit. It really _was_ a favour, getting Symmetra off of the streets; it was one that Sombra wished anyone had ever extended to _her_. The former Architech would realize that, sooner or later - realistically, Sombra knew that she wouldn’t remember most of this night in the morning. Her little arrangement with the bartender took care of that.

Why rely on luck when medication was so readily available?

It was a little late for too much work, though, and Sombra really had ended up drinking more than she’d meant to, but she needed to make sure that Symmetra had had enough. Unfortunately, the hacker really wasn’t outfitted to have company. There was only one bed down here, but the alcoholic haze was growing a little too thick to do much of anything and made her eyelids feel so pleasantly heavy.

Sombra drifted off to sleep in her chair, head tipped back and snoring lightly as the screens flickered and blinked in front of her. After a while, they went away too, and all throughout the base was perfect, silent, darkness. So tranquil, so calm. So at odds with the world outside.

Above them, in the dark or sometimes lamp-lit streets, gunshots sounded both distantly and near. Occasional shouts, a shatter of glass breaking the night’s brief silence, an engine roaring desperately. The sounds of a city unwell, besieged from without and within; the sounds of a city which had been dying for a long, long time.

Some people simply didn’t realize it yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, folks! Let me know what you thought or how things are going, or if I messed anything up! Thanks!


	3. Awakenings, both Rude and Otherwise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up from a drug-and-alcohol induced sleep is a first for Symmetra. Sombra dances around the truth a little and earns a few secrets for her efforts - and a few headaches as well. Sombra angles *hard*, but doesn't always connect and can't quite decide how to feel about that. A little piece of the past builds a bridge between the two women.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: More traumatic flashbacks for Sym (which hurt my heart every time) but they're really brief. Sombra relives some fairly tragic memories but in a substantially more detached way, so there's that too.

Symmetra meant to ask what had happened - why her head and ribs and gut hurt so much, what illness had afflicted her - but all that came out was a dull mumble into the pillow pressed into her face.

“Oh hey, you’re awake.”

She really _tried_ to sit bolt upright, but her arms and head both protested and the action never fully coalesced. It turned into a bit of a frantic, flailing jerk that failed to accomplish much at all except for agitating her aches.

“Hey, calm down, _amiga -_ just lay there a minute. You drank a lot last night!” A chuckle filtered into Symmetra’s fuzzy ears.

Details began to rise to the surface in her mind again. Ugly men in an alleyway, purple eyes in a bar, golden liquid in a glass. Symmetra groaned and sluggishly reached up to rub at her throbbing temples, still lying face-down in a pillow.

“What happened?”

Sombra cackled briefly, munching on a bag of potato chips. “I just _told_ you, _chica!_ You drank a lot - welcome to hangovers, it’s a new and exciting world.”

“I hate it.”

The hacker snickered, nodding. “I’m with you there, amiga.”

“I cannot… recall,” Symmetra groaned, pressing her face into the pillow. “Why is the night so fragmented?”

“Alcohol,” Sombra replied with a shrug. It was as good a time as any to probe and test the waters. “How much _do_ you remember?”

“I recall the events in the alleyway and leading up to the bar with perfect clarity.” She paused for a moment. “The first eleven drinks, as well. Then things begin to blur and shift. I-I remember,” she rocked her head left and right, “pieces of conversations and thoughts. I recall being surprised.”

Sombra fell still, hand halfway into the chip bag, as her eyes zeroed in on the still seemingly only half-conscious woman in the bed. Her tone, when she spoke, was nonchalant and very much at odds with her intense posture. “Surprised by what?”

“By… how much I enjoyed it. There was a surprising amount of structure. I particularly appreciate the multiple-step processes of drinking.”

The hacker relaxed, popping another chip into her mouth.

Symmetra groaned afresh at the explicit thought of drinking, laying an arm behind her head to push herself into the pillow and further dampen the world. It was too much at the best of times, but now every sensation seemed to be a needle driven into her brain. “Evidently I did not understand the fullness of the situation.”

Snickering, Sombra reclined into the sofa. _Good. Doesn’t remember any of the juicy stuff._ She was sure it would be the case, but it never hurt to double-check. “Yeah, it can be a lot of fun if you do it right - and you _definitely_ did it right, _amiga_ , but the first time’s always rough, eh?” She chuckled darkly at her own joke.

“Apparently,” Symmetra grunted and Sombra raised an eyebrow, but before she could crack another joke Symmetra was asking a question. “Where am I?”

“Don’t worry, _chica,_ you’re safe. When you blacked out at the bar I brought you back here to my place and put you in the bed. You know, _mi casa_ …”

“No, I do not know your house.”

“Wh-” Sombra’s head recoiled in confusion. _Casablanca_ was one thing, but this? “No, it’s- the expression. _Mi casa es su casa,_ you know?”

“That’s a foolish expression; it is patently untrue,” Symmetra grumbled into her pillow. “We have joint ownership of nothing, least of all property.”

“It _means_ make yourself at home, _amiga,”_ Sombra’s words were groaned and a little chuckled as well.

Symmetra pulled her face up off of the pillow to glance around. Brightness assaulted her eyes and she dropped her head with a groan. “It does not feel like home, but the fabrics and colours are somewhat reminiscent at least.”

Sombra snorted. “Well hey, glad to be of service or whatever.”

“What did we discuss last night?” The words were still muffled as Symmetra tried to check herself over and see if anything was out of place. Or rather, _how_ out of place things were - her ribs were sore and at least one or two were broken, but that was from the alley rather than Sombra. Her jaw, her whole face, most of her muscles, all ached.

“Oh, lotsa stuff,” Sombra shrugged with a grin. “Y’know - growing up, our various talents… you confessed your undying love for me.”

“Unlikely.” Symmetra murmured. “Unless I was attempting a joke.”

Sombra snickered. “You sure you even know what a joke _is, amiga?”_

“I understand jokes,” she protested into the pillow, “I simply only appreciate the funny ones!”

Purple eyes rolled a little but Sombra couldn’t wipe the grin off of her lips. “Oh, sure, _chica._ That’s why you’re always laughing at me!”

“I would not undertake such a pointless cruelty.”

That threw her for a loop for a second. “What? W- no, like, laughing at my _jokes._ Not at me.”

“...you said at you.”

“Yeah, it- I- you know, never mind,” Sombra sighed, pressing fingers into her forehead just above the eyebrows. “Are you hungry or anything?”

“Nauseated. Thirsty.”

“Alright,” she nodded. _Now we’re getting somewhere at least._ “Hey, you know you offered to show me some things last night - some of the hard light stuff.”

Symmetra considered that as she heard the sounds of Sombra walking off somewhere else. It was a likely proposition - she freely used her skills when it posed no risk, and she was generally quite prone to displays that would instill an understanding in others. The more people who knew she was a force with which to be reckoned, the better - she should have fewer struggles for it.

...it wasn’t a theory that panned out perfectly. None of hers seemed to tend to, when it came to _people._

“Very well. Did…” she groaned again, trying to quell the spinning in her head and her stomach. “Did I say _what?_ I can recall very little of our conversations.”

Sombra laughed. _Oh, this is too perfect!_ Every passing moment reassured her that she’d done the right thing - if somebody else got their hands on this _chica_ , it would spell bad news. She was like a puppy mixed with an idiot, who held the keys to the world. Or a new one.

Grabbing a pair of bottles of soda out of the fridge, Sombra walked quickly back to the bed - popping both caps off as she did. “Here,” she nudged the cold bottle against Symmetra’s elbow. “And you said a little, yeah - we were talking about how we could help each other out more, remember?”

Symmetra’s hand grasped blindly but found the bottle on the first swipe, perfectly aligned, and didn’t spill a drop. Space was easy. It was people who were difficult.

“I do not.” She lifted her head just enough to take a swig from the bottle, eyes closed, and her lips twisted as she grunted. “Ugh! What is that?”

“It’s _Jarritos_ \- pineapple - and it’s delicious, now-”

“Do you have any water?”

“No, I don’t, so just drink that - now _anyway_ , we were talking about how things used to be, you remember that?” Sombra raised an eyebrow, a little surprised that Symmetra didn’t try any further to protest the soda, and started to drink it freely.

It was all she could do, if it was the only option. Long ago she had instilled that rule into herself, and it had served her repeatedly. Not always necessarily for the better, but it eased passages that she realized could have been rough otherwise: when presented with only one path, it simply must be walked, all else regardless.

“I…” her mind flicked back, flaky threads of memories from the night before that tied even further back. “I recall that, yes. Somewhat. I spoke of life at Vishkar. You… you spoke of your family?”

“Ex-family,” Sombra shrugged, “the God-programs saw to that, but yeah, we did. Then you got all nostalgic about Vishkar and stuff, started talking about the future. Something about building from the ashes?”

Her eyes watched the blanket-covered lump intently. Sombra was taking a risk here and she knew it, but life wouldn’t be life without risks and people who didn’t gamble never won. She’d overheard the Architech’s odd exchange with that filthy almost-skeleton of a man in the alleyway. It wasn’t hard to extrapolate that into something that at least should sound _probable_ , and even if it didn’t, she knew she could chalk it up to booze.

“I… I did?” Symmetra’s words sounded hesitant, but not disbelieving, and Sombra took the torch and ran with it.

“Yeah, you did. You said you were looking forward to those days and stuff - I mean, I don’t remember it _all_ because I was kinda smashed too, but it sounded good. Pretty inspiring, actually.” She chuckled, remembering how Symmetra had reacted to her laughter and clapping the night before, the pantomime of praise - if it worked once, it could work again.

An odd sort of sensation permeated Symmetra’s core, overlaid atop the pains and strains of the evening and night before as well as the unease of being somewhere unfamiliar with someone unknown. _Inspiring? Well, of course it is. Who would not be inspired by a new world?_

“I am surprised that I shared my vision with you,” Symmetra admitted. “I had heard that alcohol had a capacity to soothe worries and reduce inhibitions; I suppose I underestimated either its efficacy or my own resistance.”

“Oh you were pretty damn resistant, _amiga,”_ Sombra chuckled with a grin, knocking back a swig of her soda as she picked up the chips again.

“Actually pretty fun to party with, though. Had a real kind of… excited first-timer thing going, but with the kind of drinking chops I’d expect from a real bar vet!” She laughed. If not for subsequent rounds of drinks being drugged (the first few couldn’t be drugged, or it might be detected - had to hide it later in the bulk), Sombra suspected the odd woman may have not even lost consciousness.

“Mm.” Symmetra slowly pushed herself upright. The few mouthfuls of soda she’d managed were refreshing despite the sugary tartness of the drink - it was cold and wet and did wonders to both slake her thirst and clear her head as well. A pleasant surprise. She turned herself around and sat cross-legged on the bed, eyes still closed, facing Sombra. A few deep breaths helped her collect her thoughts.

“The Vishkar corporation had a vision: a better world, one which lived in harmony with its inhabitants. Citizens who reacted to the needs of their city and a city which did the same in return. They realized that vision, but there was more to it - not just a _city_ but a planet, united in their dedication to society, to each other, to betterment both individually and as a group.”

Sombra raised an eyebrow but said nothing. _Sounds a bit like a cult, chica. Or a bunch of idiots. Probably both._

“That vision has not been lost, not while there are still those who see it - who _seek_ it.” Symmetra nodded, taking another drink of soda and opening her eyes, looking blankly at the floor. “Anything that can be imagined, can be created, and _I_ imagine a better world. I simply require the power to fuel its creation.”

Sombra snorted. “Don’t we all, _amiga?_ I mean if I were president of the world and had all the nukes, I can guarantee you things would be a lot different, but it ain’t gonna happen.”

“I mean _literal_ power,” Symmetra shook her head slowly. “This is no pipe dream. I require only machines and _power_ \- electricity, generators, batteries - to create this world, one piece at a time. It is not a goal I share freely.” Her brows creased a little as her dark eyes opened and raised to meet Sombra’s. _Why did I share it with you?_

The hacker looked back with a slight grin, and Symmetra couldn’t place it. Did she _trust_ the hacker? Maybe, in fashions, but not necessarily and that hardly mattered anyway. Believe she could be of aid? Perhaps; all things were possible and Sombra had proved to be somewhat capable at least - along with heavy implications of far more lurking in the wings. Did she _like_ her? She’d always been told that she couldn’t, and she saw no reason for that to change now.

“I think it’s ‘cause I got a nice face,” Sombra grinned as if she could read Symmetra’s thoughts. “That’s gotta be why you told me - I mean, _everybody_ looks at Sombra and thinks ‘that there is a face that I totally trust’.” She emphasized her point by waving at her own visage, grinning wide and sharklike and looking back with her quirked eyebrow and dancing eyes.

It was funny. Symmetra laughed.

Sombra was surprised that she realized it was a joke - _she doesn’t even know mi casa and hasn’t seen Casablanca but that, she gets? -_ but joined the laughter with a chuckle of her own.

“Sombra, you have _by far_ the least trustworthy face I have _ever_ seen!” Symmetra wheezed with a combination of laughter and injuries. “Oh, do not make me laugh so - my ribs are broken and it hurts to laugh.”

“Oh shit, right,” Sombra mumbled, “I forgot about your injuries and shit - uh, we should take you to a medic. Get you patched up?”

Symmetra hummed as she took a drink from her bottle, now a little over half empty. Her analysis module, wired into the ocular augmentations in her eye, informed her it was fifty-nine percent filled. “Yes, that would be appreciated. Perhaps after I finish my drink?”

“Yeah, take your time,” Sombra urged, settling back into the couch again. “Want a chip?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Alright, suit yourself.” She sighed a little, looking to the ceiling. _Dios mio, why’d you send me this one? This has gotta be a joke right here. I’d say karma but I’m a fucking angel obviously._ “So yeah, how does that hard light stuff work anyway?”

Symmetra’s brow furrowed as she thought, trying to recall what she’d already said. It seemed to be a futile exercise, though. “I cannot recall what I already explained. Suffice to say that the generator coalesces light into physical constructs - if one is sufficiently skilled, atomic control is permitted and one can form a variety of materials. Glass, metal, ceramics, plastics, electronic components. Many weavers were not capable of such minutiae to any great extent.”

“But you are?” Sombra quirked an eyebrow and Symmetra nodded.

“Yes. Would you care for a demonstration?” She wasn’t certain why the offer seemed good, but something in her stirred for a thing she couldn’t place. Did she demonstrate yesterday? It seemed familiar, it seemed positive.

“Yeah, of course,” Sombra grinned. “Just don’t blow anything up.”

“My talents tend to lie in construction and deconstruction, not _destruction.”_ Symmetra closed her eyes, setting her bottle off to the side wedged between the mattress and the bed’s headboard. She brought her hands in front of herself, pointed toward each other, and then - as Sombra watched - her hands began to dance. They swirled and looped around each other, and something shimmered on the blanket in front of the Architech’s crossed legs.

A small sphere seemed to either become visible, or coalesce from nothingness - floating two centimetres away from a little platform that had also not been there a moment ago. It spun to face Sombra, bobbing lightly on a repulsion field.

“It will track your movements,” Symmetra nodded, opening her eyes to smile down to the turret and pat it with one fingertip. _You will be Vayu._

Sombra bobbed her head slowly left and then right, watching as the orb turned to keep facing her with a blue glowing circle. She laughed a little as she jerked suddenly and the machine kept track of her perfectly. “Damn, that’s impressive! So it’s not just for buildings or chairs and shit?”

Symmetra shook her head. “Anything visualized can be realized, given sufficient skill and power. I lack the ability to realize a building on my own. I would require a substantial generator, but do you see now? Nothing is impossible. This world _can_ be rebuilt.”

“And this little guy just tracks movements?” She ignored the frankly deluded parts of the conversation in favour of the bits she could actually work with. “He got a little camera in there?” Sombra reached out slowly to tap at the glowing circle, but hadn’t touched it by the time Symmetra responded.

“It also has the capability to fire a beam and incapacitate hostiles, and send me notifications of the same.”

Sombra froze with her finger an inch away, uncertain if tapping at the glass would count as hostility to the little bot. Her eyes rose slowly to Symmetra’s, raising an eyebrow as she grinned a little. Grinned like a cheetah might. “You didn’t think you should have mentioned that _first?”_

Symmetra shrugged. “You are non-hostile so it hardly matters. Regardless, the beam does no lasting harm - it drains a person’s energy until they are no longer capable of movements. Once paralyzed, they are no longer targeted. The effects wear off within twelve hours.”

A snort as Sombra sat back, not touching the little turret orb. “What’s with this hang-up on killing people, _chica?_ That _pendejo_ in the alleyway yesterday, too - I was gonna paint the walls with him and you stopped me. Now-” she held out a hand, palm flat, to interrupt any interruptions, “-let me say first that I gotta respect your technique and that was some bone-chillingly weird and creepy shit to pull on him, but I’ve got to ask… what gives?”

Symmetra just looked back in rising confusion as Sombra talked, slowly retrieving her bottle of pineapple soda and taking a sip. Vayu, on the bed in front of her, tracked the hacker’s movements and relayed them to Symmetra, blinking softly at the edge of her vision.

Her eyes dropped down to the turret as she considered, her finger tracing a pattern on it idly - a circle along a tiny trench formed barely into the turret’s dome, just wide enough to slip a fingernail into.

“If a goal can be accomplished without killing, why kill? It is an unnecessity; undesired as well, as life is the only thing which _cannot_ be created with ease. If I were to unmake a wall, I could replace it. Ending a life? That cannot be undone.” She glanced away from the turret, toward the other woman’s face. “You did not kill that fat man yesterday, either. Why?”

Sombra frowned a little. “Who, Rico? Couple of reasons - he’s useful alive. Dumbass is predictable at least, and if he’s out of the picture then somebody’ll replace him. They might not be so easy for me to get what I need out of, so I let him hang around - plus, I took his _cojones._ Seemed fair.”

She upended her bottle, and pointed a purple-clawed finger at Symmetra. “If that guy hadn’t tripped you, though, you might’ve got away. You think he won’t do it again to somebody else?”

“Either he will, or he will not. Predicting the actions of persons has never been a strength I possessed,” Symmetra shrugged slightly. “If he acts poorly, he will be treated poorly - only through change on his own part can he hope to improve. As any of us.”

Her brow drew a little tighter as she tried to sum it all up. There was a unifying reality to the world, a series of overarching rules that were both elegant and absolute. It would be difficult to condense them down into a few sentences.

“He did not trip me.” Symmetra saw Sombra starting to say something but cut her off. “ _I_ tripped _over_ him. It was my own lack of attention, my _own_ unsurety on my feet, that caused me to stumble, and only I can be held accountable for the outcomes. He could have been a loose brick, a piece of detritus, a fallen branch or a pothole - had _he_ not been there, something else may have been. Would you have me destroy a loose brick because I stumbled upon it?”

That was a lot to respond to. Not least of all because, in Sombra’s opinion, it was only half a response to her question anyway.

...and the other half? Well, that was just batshit insane.

One bit of it made sense, though - it made perfect sense in a way that actually sent a little chill into Sombra’s gut as she glanced around uncertainly.

“I, uh…” she frowned deeper, her eyes catching on a small stuffed bear in the corner. One eye was gone entirely, one was a button hanging by a thread. At some point, lipstick had been applied to its mouth, but only a spotty red remnant was visible now. It was absolutely a piece of shit, and Sombra loved it.

“You know,” she started again, shaking her head with a chuckle - a slow grin spreading across her lips as she found her footing again. She met Symmetra’s eyes intently, and the other woman didn’t break the gaze. “I think you might be onto something there - at the end, that is. In my opinion? Somebody’s dumb enough to end up on the wrong end of my gun with me pissed off enough to pull the trigger? Well, they _earned_ those bullets, but…”

Her eyes drifted back toward that bear again as her mind almost fell out of gear. The space around them was replaced with one that barely existed - that fuzzy, bright type of world that could only exist in dreams or memories. Beautifully vibrant colours, laughter, warmth, safety. All the things that made home, _home._

 _Son of a bitch._ Sombra sighed abruptly, biting it off at the end and pressing at her forehead above her eyebrows. “Okay, _amiga_ , if you ever tell _anybody_ this shit I’m about to go into? You’re gonna find yourself on the wrong end of my gun with me pissed off enough to pull the trigger. _Comprende?”_

Symmetra nodded hesitantly, confused in a familiar sort of way, and it only increased as Sombra stood and walked away, over to the edge of the room. She bent down and fetched something out from underneath a bench, her skirt shifting over her leggings and the hanging fabric mirroring those that draped from the ceiling. That was nice.

The confusion only heightened when Sombra returned and sat once more, with both of her arms wrapped protectively around an old stuffed bear that was in terrible shape. There was a different sort of a look in the hacker’s eyes, but Symmetra couldn’t place it - something light but a little distant? She didn’t know what it meant. She never did.

“Couldn’t concentrate with this little dumbass distracting me from over there,” Sombra laughed, shaking her head with a grin and squeezing the bear a little. “Anyway.” She cleared her throat, meeting Symmetra’s eyes with a sort of concern that vanished swiftly.

“I think you’re bang on about one thing, _amiga._ When I was a little girl, the omnics - the ones that sided with the God-programs - came into my village, into my house. They killed _mi familia,_ just… ripped it up, my home, my life, my family. Literally, metaphorically,” she shrugged easily, waving her hand in a sarcastic gesture, “take your pick.”

Symmetra noticed the other arm tightening around the bear. There was something fascinatingly familiar about it - _painfully_ familiar. Not just the stuffed animal itself, but the way it was treated.

For perhaps the first time in her life, Symmetra thought that she actually _understood_ what was going through somebody else’s head, through their mind and their heart. She thought she just might understand how Sombra _felt._

“If it hadn’t been them?” Sombra rolled a shoulder, chuckling easily - the nonchalance at odds with the almost frantic way her other arm pinned the bear against her body. “It would have been somebody else. Drug lords, corrupt cops, army guys from at home or abroad. Hell, maybe just wild animals, am I right?” She laughed, grinning widely.

“So, I don’t really hold it against omnics so much. I mean, don’t get me wrong,” the hacker leaned forward, eyes gleaming as darkly as her toothy grin, “I do _love_ seeing those ones get taken down a peg or twenty, and I do love ripping into them wherever I can, but it’s not like I hate all the omnics for it so I guess I can see where you’re coming from with that alley guy.”

Purple-painted lips curved into a slight frown. “...and you’re not looking at me at all. _Chica?_ Hello?” Symmetra’s eyes were fixed on the bear - she hadn’t even blinked, Sombra was sure of it as she waved in front of the Architech’s face. _Is that…_ “ _Amiga?_ Are you crying?”

Symmetra’s hand flew reflexively to her face, meant taunting chants filling her mind from her memories. _Satya’s crying, Satya’s crying! Little crybaby run away!_ “No.” She refuted the point absolutely, crossing her arms and looking down at the ground. It hadn’t worked in the past.

It didn’t work now.

“Hey,” Sombra murmured with surprising tenderness, and a shrug. “It’s alright. People cry, it’s cool.”

Symmetra’s eyes snapped up to meet hers; first filled with shock, then confusion, then realization, then pain. Then tears. The Architech wiped them away with one sleeve, sniffling as her thumb started to run up and down her index finger again - between the knuckles and back, and back again. “I- I believe I recognize the bear.”

Sombra frowned deeply, pulling the memento in closer to herself. “What are you talking about? He’s mine. He’s _always_ been mine.” She hesitated for a moment. She didn’t want to ruin something that could serve her, she wanted her _chica_ on her side, but she couldn’t just let this go. “You can’t have him.”

“No!” Symmetra half-laughed, shaking her head. “No, I- I mean…” she took a deep breath and let it out. “I think I recognize what he _is._ To you. It… I feel like I should thank you for that.”

It was one of the more terrifying moments of Sombra’s life, so she did what she always did when things got especially rough or risky - she laughed. “Well hey, _chica,_ if you wanna thank me you go right ahead!”

Symmetra chuckled a little, shaking her head. She wondered if it could possibly work for her - and at least, why it had never occurred to her before. “Thank you, Sombra,” she nodded, meeting the hacker’s eyes with intensity. “Thank you so much.”

It was silent for a moment, Sombra’s eyes glistening a little as she swallowed and pulled the bear in a little tighter. Then she quirked an eyebrow. “Careful, _amiga,_ ” she purred, “at this rate I’m gonna think you’re in this for more than just friendship.”

Symmetra laughed, grinning widely. “Well, aren’t I? I thought I had already made that clear.”

Sombra’s eyes widened a little as she glanced the Architech over: head tipped to her side a little, tracing a pattern in the blanket beside her. Black, short hair hung down at a bit of an angle across Symmetra’s forehead, and she raised a hand to brush it back behind her ear with one finger. Her dark eyes seemed suddenly to hold so much as they looked back.

In hindsight, Sombra supposed it made a lot of sense. She’d gotten inklings of it, yeah - _I mean, who doesn’t want to get with Sombra? -_ but she hadn’t been sure up until right then. Her grin started to grow a little wider. _Alrighty then amiga, let’s see about-_

“I must admit, I cannot attain my vision alone.”

There was a moment - just an instant - where Sombra thought she might have looked a little hurt, but she quickly shifted it back around to amusement. “Oh, is _that_ all?” Her eyebrow raised even higher, but Symmetra seemed to not get it. Again. She seemed to _never_ get it. She just laughed - and sure, it was a nice laugh - but then she just looked away and grinned a little, didn’t say anything at all.

Sombra couldn’t tell if it was infuriating, or the most effective flirting tactic she’d ever seen. Maybe both.

“Hey, we should take you to that medic, _amiga,”_ Sombra pushed herself off of the couch, tucking the bear under one arm. She headed back to the bench to slide him away underneath it; when she turned around, Symmetra was there, watching with her head tipped to the side.

“What is his name?”

Sombra was a little taken aback by the question. “Huh? The doc? He’s named Ha-”

“No, the bear.”

Purple eyes flicked down to the stuffed relic. “He uh… he doesn’t have one.”

Symmetra raised an eyebrow, meeting her eyes in gentle disbelief.

“Okay, _okay,_ ” Sombra sighed, “but you remember the whole gun thing, right? Well, now it goes double, so…” she shook her head as she trailed off, glancing down to the stuffed animal with a grin. “He’s named Oso.”

“He’s named Bear,” Symmetra grinned, giggling softly. “I like it. I promise I will not touch him without permission.”

Sombra was a little bit confused by the intensity of the relief she felt at that. “I… thanks _._ You know, I mean, you’re a little weird? But I like you, _chica_ _._ ”

Grinning, Symmetra smiled back. “Thank you. I like you too.” _The ways that I can, at least._ “I think this will feel much more like home, now.”

Sombra just snorted a little, shaking her head as she led Symmetra out toward the entrance. It didn’t make any sense - it wasn’t like Oso was _her_ bear. What, did she just have a bear too when she was a kid? Maybe that was it.

Either way, one thing was certain: Sombra knew she wouldn’t be asking about it, because she’d probably get some story about groceries or how to build a table or something, instead. Questions and answers didn’t always seem to line up unless they were really basic.

Maybe two things were certain. As Symmetra stumbled with a hiss, her injured leg causing a problem for her, Sombra linked their arms together again. The weight of the other woman leaning on her a little, pulling in at her elbow - Sombra was certain about one other thing, too: this was going to be a whole lot weirder and a whole lot riskier than she’d originally intended… but if you never gamble, you never win.

Sombra felt like she was all in at the highest-stakes table in the house, and the concept of losing seemed a lot bigger than it had before. The concept of _winning_ , though?

Jackpot. The kind you only dream of.

She’d need to play her cards right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks, folks! Say hello to Oso. He'll be coming back. Soon we start to get deeper into the plot - as well as the inter-character developments!
> 
> Next time: Sym and Sombra play doctor! Nah, not really - but Sombra does take her to the doctor. Close enough, right?


	4. Check-ups and Check-outs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the doctor to get Symmetra fixed up - and it's not just the wounds of the night before that need attending to. Conversation provides a bit of a distraction during the more intense procedures, and Sombra starts to find a bit of a new appreciation for her new _amiga_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Moderately graphic depictions of some surgery - cutting, bones, blood, stitches. Not excessively graphic, but be forewarned if that's bad for you.

“Ah!” Symmetra recoiled, hissing, as metal fingers probed at her ribs.

“Easy there, doc,” Sombra murmured.

“You want me to help or don’t you?” The omnic didn’t look up, nor slow down in his movements. He also decidedly did  _ not  _ ease up.

Sombra chuckled a little. “Sorry  _ amiga _ , I tried - guess you gotta ease up.”

Symmetra frowned. “Ah yes, you must have really strained yourself with such an effort. I’ll simply not hurt. How foolish of me.”

There was a metallic groan as Symmetra’s fingers clenched around the edge of the inspection table. “You have at least three fractured ribs, one has broken entirely through in at least two locations and shifted, causing internal lacerations. It needs to be realigned and the lacerations repaired. Now either stop moving, or keep moving and get a punctured lung. Frankly? I don’t give a fuck either way.”

“I apologize, doctor,” Symmetra bowed her head slightly - which actually involved lifting it off of the table - and clutched at the padded surface she laid on. “Continue, I will not move again.”

It hurt. Everything hurt, and incredibly so, but if she needed to be still then she would be. At least the reasons were evident - it wasn’t some empty command, it served a purpose, so she just gritted her teeth and bore it as the doctor continued to probe.

It wasn’t as if pain was new. Everything had hurt for years now. Symmetra was used to it. She could bear a little more.

“Fine,” the omnic sighed, “except first, you’ll move  _ more. _ Remove your jacket, shirt, pants. Looks like you’ll need a minor surgery amongst some other things. You have any allergies? Anaesthetic sensitivities?”

“Not to my knowledge,” Symmetra responded, slowly shifting to sit upright again. 

“Got one hell of an alcohol tolerance, for what it’s worth,” Sombra shrugged and the doctor grunted with a nod.

“I’ll go for a generous dosage. You’re welcome.”

“Thank you.” Symmetra slipped off of the table’s surface to be standing again, stripping off layers of clothing and folding them before she set them on a counter nearby.

It wasn’t exactly a primo medical institution - it was just a room in Hawk-i’s basement which he’d re-outfitted. Oddly, despite taking the name, Sombra didn’t see even a glimmer of the TV character in her doctor friend’s personality. Except for a fondness of drinking, and damn near flawless medical skills. He’d saved her life more than once - and she’d returned the favour.

Clean-ish counters held an assortment of implements, every single bit of it smuggled out of his job at the hospital. As a janitor. They wouldn’t let an  _ omnic _ near  _ humans _ with a scalpel anymore - he’d lost his prestigious private surgical practice to a fire a decade ago. According to the fire department, it had been his own damn fault for burning a gas heater.

Of course, the place had been one hundred percent electric. He’d got the message and stepped out of the limelight. It was easier to keep his head attached, and intact, if he kept it  _ down. _ The arrangement with Sombra brought him some much-needed money, and this appointment was no exception.

The doctor didn’t even watch as Symmetra disrobed - he moved to a series of vials and drew up a liquid into a syringe. Fifty percent over standard, that’d be a good enough dosage to start - and if she could still feel, a little more could be added.

Sombra, on the other hand, watched with a grin and a raised eyebrow, arms crossed in front of her chest. “You know, this isn’t gonna make me think it any _less,_ _chica._ Just saying, it’s only the second day we’ve known each other and you _already_ can’t keep your clothes on!”

Hawk-i laughed at that, as did Sombra. Symmetra missed it, hung up on what the first sentence was referring back to - make Sombra think  _ what _ , exactly? Symmetra wasn’t sure.

“I was instructed to,” she pointed out, undoing her pants and slipping them off gingerly - favouring her ribs a lot. They hurt immensely, and movement didn’t help. Particularly bending down was awful, driving a spike of agony deeper into her chest.

Sombra snickered. “Damn, is that all it takes? I’ll keep it in mind,  _ amiga!” _

Hawk-i and her laughed again, and Symmetra had the distinct impression that she was being mocked. Her mouth became a little drier but there really was little else to do so she just took her position on the table again, clothed in nothing more than a bra, socks, and a pair of panties.

Hawk-i moved around to one side, and Sombra’s eyes roamed over the newly-exposed expanse of skin. What had started as a combination of sight-seeing and light teasing took a turn for the concerning as she realized that Symmetra was in worse shape than she’d thought. A  _ lot _ worse. 

Firstly, one of her ribs jutted out in a way that Sombra  _ definitely _ didn’t need a medical degree to know that it was very, very wrong. Bruises and gashes dotted her skin, some starting to fade. It was clear that last night hadn’t been her first rough night - not even close. Maybe not even the worst one.

“Hey,” Sombra murmured softly, moving to the side of the table opposite from the doctor and glancing to Symmetra’s eyes. “You know I’m only messing with you, right  _ amiga? _ ” The Architech seemed to have a soft spot for mockery.

...it didn’t mean Sombra would  _ stop _ , necessarily, but something could be done to stop it from getting in the way and making things worse.

Symmetra glanced over to her with confusion clear on her face. “Another bonding activity?”

Sombra chuckled, nodding with a grin. “Yeah, something like that. Doesn’t mean I don’t have your back. Hell, you’re sarcastic at me sometimes - it’s just like that.”

Symmetra’s frown deepened, but it seemed much more thoughtful than hurt. “Hmm. It seemed… different.” She hissed swiftly as the anaesthetic needle jabbed into her side.

“Thanks,” Hawk-i nodded his head toward Sombra. “Good job on the distraction.”

Sombra chuckled and grinned, but not without patting at Symmetra’s hand and flashing her a little smile as well. There were too damn many bruises on her  _ amiga _ already - she didn’t want to go adding another one, or jabbing at the ones that were still healing. Even if she couldn’t see them.

Symmetra felt an odd iciness spread through her, but it wasn’t mounting fear the way she might’ve expected - anaesthetic, beginning to take effect on her body’s systems. She began to feel numb, from the injection site outward.

The doctor jabbed her lightly with a finger and she frowned. It was nowhere near an injury. “I will presume there was a purpose to that.”

“Good plan,” Hawk-i nodded, jabbing her again a moment later, even further away.

“Might I inquire as to  _ what _ the purpose is?”

“You might.” This time he poked at her leg, but she still didn’t shift.

With a frustrated sigh, Symmetra looked to the hacker who chuckled in return. “Hey, I said he was  _ good _ , I never said he had a bedside manner.”

It was a good point, and Symmetra’s frustration lessened with it. “Fair.” Her body still reflexively tried to recoil from the jabs but she gave no other reaction, and tried to suppress that one as much as possible. It hurt, but everything hurt. This  _ world _ hurt, it grated her the wrong way and got under her skin but there was nothing to be done about it - she just suffered and tried to keep it from interfering.

Sometimes, she even succeeded.

As the conversation dried up, Sombra was left with little to do. Normally she would’ve pulled up a screen or two, maybe taken the opportunity to grab some snacks - or both - but she wasn’t working on anything actively at the moment. Her eyes trailed over Symmetra, at first following Hawk-i’s probing finger as it poked at her arms or her legs seemingly at random, but then moving further afield and looking instead at what else there was to be seen.

No tattoos, no piercings - at least, none that could be seen with underwear on, but given that she’d never had  _ booze _ before, Sombra highly doubted that her new friend had any of  _ those  _ sorts of modifications.

To Sombra, it looked like she was in rough shape, but had probably been quite athletic before that - skin clung a little tightly to her ribs, not emaciated but definitely showing little arches and valleys where flesh wrapped over bone. Her belly hung in a flattish inward curve that spoke of lack of meals more than anything else, although there was definitely some muscle to it as well. 

Symmetra didn’t notice the studious purple eyes off to her left. Her own gaze was fixed on the ceiling, jaw clenched tightly shut as the cold sensation of anaesthetic numbness continued to spread. It started to counter the burning ache of the pain in a few places, and she liked that at least. Being unable to detect sensations where the drug had taken hold, though, was fascinating in an almost morbid way. Her mind recalled oral freezing - for dental operations - and the way she used to spend time chewing gently at the numb flesh. Sometimes, not so gently.

Hawk-i prodded her side, but she didn’t move. Again, he jabbed - closer to an injury this time - but no reaction. He pressed hard on the centre of one of her bruises, dark above her hip: nothing.

“Anaesthetic’s taken,” he explained, pulling a chair over. “If you don’t want to see yourself get cut open you might want to look away.”

One of his fingers whirred and flipped around, unfolding into a scalpel blade which he brought swiftly down along one of Symmetra’s snapped ribs, the one he’d need access to in order to realign. The X-rays had showed it being impressively dislodged.

She made a noise, high and keening, and tipped her head further back as she tried to avoid any possibility of catching a glimpse out of the corner of her eye. If she didn’t even see his arm moving, if she didn’t even know where he was, then maybe she wouldn’t know what was happening. As long as she could just keep herself from looking down.

“Hey, hey over here,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra sat down on a slightly rickety stool, but kept it stable. She put a finger on Symmetra’s chin and encouraged her head over to the side, facing towards her - and away from Hawk-i and his operations. “Don’t bother looking, trust me, it’s not that interesting.”

Purple eyes flicked down to a mess of dark blood over darker skin, with a gleaming bone now protruding partway where Hawk-i’s chromed fingers retracted the flesh. It wasn’t exactly ugly, but it wasn’t exactly pretty either. “Yeah,” she shrugged, meeting Symmetra’s eyes again with a grin, “you’ve definitely got some  _ better _ parts to look at. Even if you’ve still got all the best ones covered.”

“You’re incorrigible,” Symmetra murmured, suppressing a slight laugh which wanted to come out. The concept of what might happen if it  _ did _ while the doctor still had a blade in her ribs quickly stayed the gesture. In its stead, Symmetra smirked and shook her head a little. “I never thought I was attractive enough to warrant such attention.”

Sombra’s face twisted in disbelief. “ _ What?  _ Pfft, c’mon  _ amiga _ don’t make me laugh - I’ve got a reputation as a cold heartless gangster to uphold here.”

“Ah,” Symmetra hummed an almost-chuckle, “in which case, I must inform you - as a friend, of course - that you are doing a very poor job.” It felt so odd, to be able to talk to someone. To be talking to someone  _ at all _ , in the first place - something she’d hardly done in the years since Vishkar fell, but even there and before…

She’d been lauded at Vishkar, she’d been appreciated and  _ supported _ at Vishkar, and yes, she had even been liked. She hadn’t really been  _ talked _ to. Some people did, sometimes, but it usually seemed pointed. Sanjay wanted access to her abilities, to be able to sway her decisions; Ranjit wanted her to dance; Parva had primarily been interested in sex, particularly after the first time. Apparently she’d appreciated Symmetra’s skills.

It had never really seemed as if it was about  _ her _ , though, in a way. More about what she could do for  _ them. _ Symmetra knew that that must be primarily her different view of the world, the altered ways she intook and responded to stimuli. It only made sense, after all.

Still, it sometimes felt a little bit forced in a way she didn’t like. All social interaction felt a  _ little _ bit forced - most of the time she was playing a part for which she felt she’d never received all of the pages of the script. People would say a line and she’d return the one which she thought came next, but frowns and silences told her she’d misjudged.

Frowns and silences, at the  _ best _ of times. Often it became outright mockery or bullying - though less so as the years progressed. Less.

At Vishkar things had changed to seem sometimes forced from the other side - as she was supported, others started to see what they could gain from her if they appeased her, but they tended to go about it all wrong. They tried to guess at the answers she wanted, but it only twisted and confused things further.

Sombra, though, didn’t seem prone to any of that. Yes, she noticed - and even noted, for which Symmetra was thankful - when the Architech reacted in an incorrect fashion. Yes, she sometimes did not understand how Symmetra had drawn the conclusions she had.

Yet, regardless, she didn’t seem to… care. Not in a way which inspired upset - she reacted in laughter as often as anything else, and not the sort of laughter which crawled up under Symmetra’s scalp and under her shoulderblades.

The hacker laughed at the joke, wondering (and not for the first time) what was going through the odd woman’s head as her eyes went a little distant. Everyone had their own story, everyone had their own shit - Sombra knew that fact and she  _ loved _ it, it was what let her get half of what she needed day to day.

If you could find out somebody else’s story, you knew all the pages that they didn’t want to escape, and you found all the little keys, the treats that led them along a path. It was easy enough to manufacture a  _ new _ story from that point forward. A little nudge this way, a little nudge that way…

Symmetra, though, seemed like her story wasn’t even all written the same way. Sombra got the distinct impression that it was messy at best, and there were too many unexpected reactions to be able to pin it all down. Despite it, though, and despite the occasional frustration, Sombra found that she was growing pretty fond of her new little  _ amiga. _ Sometimes life brought unexpected things.

“What, you think I’ve gotta threaten the doc or something?” One eyebrow quirked high as Sombra grinned, glancing down to Hawk-i’s face. “Earn a few badass points?”

“Try it.” Hawk-i shook his head and continued operating, twisting the section of rib back around until it was in position once more. A small probe extended from his middle finger, glowing hot - and he displayed it happily to Sombra for a second before he started to cauterize little blood vessels that had been torn by the broken bone’s movements.

Symmetra could feel a tugging, as if a rope had been glued to her skin and then yanked on - it didn’t hurt, but she  _ felt _ it and it drew her mind. She started to look as sizzling filtered through into her ears, raising her head from the padded table, but Sombra caught her chin and pulled it back over.

“No you don’t,  _ amiga,” _ the hacker shook her head, meeting Symmetra’s eyes intensely. “Keep looking over here, alright?” Her lips split into a grin. “Call me jealous, but I don’t like you looking at other people.”

“We’re  _ not _ a couple!” Symmetra protested lightly, but her tone carried laughter in it, as did her eyes. She really didn’t want to see. She just wanted to  _ look. _ Dichotomy was hardly anything new, and if it wasn’t kept in check it might cause a problem, but as long as she had something else to focus on it would be fine. Something to which to dedicate her mind.

“Breaking my heart here,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra shook her head with a grin. “I’m just saying, you seemed pretty convinced last night when you proposed.”

“I told you before, that must have been a joke.” Symmetra frowned a little, tipping her head to the side. After a moment, she spoke up again, a little hesitantly. “Did I  _ really?” _

Sombra laughed outright. “Nah,  _ chica _ , you didn’t. But damn if I’m not happy to hear that you thought you might’ve!” She burst into laughter again, and Symmetra grinned along with her, still unwilling to laugh.

“I suppose it  _ is _ funny,” the Architech admitted, ignoring the peculiar sensations coming from her side. “Well, if I do not survive the surgery, consider us wed.”

Sombra’s eyes widened, glimmering with amusement. “You offering me your hand,  _ amiga? _ ‘Cause I think I’d probably just take the whole arm. Seems like a waste to chop it in half, you know?”

The amusement died down swiftly, grin sliding from her purple lips as Symmetra reacted not happily, but more like she’d been given a swift kick.

“Hey, look, I didn’t mean to-” Sombra cleared her throat, frowning.

Symmetra raised her mechanical hand, slowly, until she could look at it without turning her head. Luckily, both Sombra and the arm were on the same side. She looked at it for a long time, studying it with a frown and trying to think of how she could explain.

“I believe…” she glanced back up to Sombra’s eyes, nervously. She couldn’t mention the bear. “This arm is a reminder of Vishkar, of home. It… it may be the last hard-light generator in existence, as well. It- truly, if I do perish, I believe I would rather you have it than any other.”

She frowned a little deeper at the thought. It was true, but it was still odd to consider - not just that Sombra was more trustful than any other, that was easy enough, but Symmetra realized that she actually  _ wanted _ the hacker to have her arm, if something did happen. Maybe, maybe then, the vision could still live on.

Sombra blinked down to the woman who was staring at her own hand. The shock of a series of jokes being derailed had carried on into an uncomfortable feeling at the sudden solemnity of it all.

She didn’t really have much in the way of alternatives, so she just did what she always did in solemn situations and chuckled. “Okay,” she grinned, “but that’s  _ definitely _ a proposal.” It was so much easier to just laugh it off than to try to actually confront legitimate feelings.

“Why are you  _ so _ determined that I am so taken with you?” Symmetra’s words were murmured softly as the anaesthetics started to spread further into her system. They were local drugs, yes, but the dosage was quite generous and not exactly precise, and she was feeling a little bit light-headed as a result.

With a little snicker, Sombra grinned, meeting Symmetra’s eyes. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious,  _ amiga -  _  just look at how you look at me!”

“I cannot; I don’t have a mirror.”

The hacker laughed abruptly. “Ah, you crack me up,  _ chica. _ Even if you are a little vanilla for my tastes.”

Symmetra frowned, trying to tip her head in confusion but the table was in the way. “My skin is darker than yours.”

A moment of confusion overtook her before Sombra snickered. “No, I mean- oh forget it, that wasn’t a skin thing, geeze  _ amiga. _ I really seem like that kinda person to you?”

Symmetra let out a long sigh, her head settling down on the padding as she tried not to think about the noise she just heard from her ribs. Her eyes searched Sombra’s, then moved to the rest of her face. “I… I don’t know what kind of person you seem like. I never know what kind of person a person seems like.”

“Okay, I don’t know what to do with that, but cool.” Sombra shrugged, glancing down to the doctor. He was on to stitching, which was… probably good. Best to keep her occupied for another little while, though. Conversation seemed to be working. 

A grin crossed Sombra’s face as she quirked an eyebrow. “I just meant like, life experiences and shit. I mean, come on - no booze, no killing, no tats, no piercings. At this rate you’re gonna tell me you’ve never had sex or candy!”

“Of  _ course _ I’ve had sex,” Symmetra scoffed. “I’m almost thirty years old.”

“Okay wait but how  _ almost?  _ ‘Cause if you’re sixteen or a cop you gotta tell me.”

Symmetra didn’t get the joke, she just looked back in confusion and Sombra sighed. “Never mind - seriously, though? No alcohol, in  _ your whole life _ , but not only have you  _ had _ sex you think it would be laughable to  _ not _ have? This has gotta be one of your jokes or something, right  _ amiga? _ .”

The Architech considered that for a moment. “It is an important facet of one of the pillars of life. Why would it be avoided? I understand that the pillars are not touted everywhere, but surely they are universally understood.”

It momentarily slipped Sombra’s mind, just how rickety her stool was. As she leaned back a little, chuckling, though, the stool was more than happy to remind her by wobbling abruptly and forcing her to grab on to the operating table’s edge in order to stay upright. Sombra tried to just play it off as nothing.

“Okay,  _ this _ I gotta hear.” She crossed her arms, grinning expectantly. “I mean, I’m pretty sure booze is one of  _ my _ pillars of life, but hey, I’m always happy to learn something new - so… what are these ‘four pillars’ or whatever?”

Symmetra’s eyes widened a little, then narrowed as she frowned deeply. For a few long moments she was silent - and luckily, didn’t seem to hear (and be distracted by) the noises of surgery at her side, but Sombra was still just about to start in with another question by the time the Architech finally got around to speaking.

“It would be difficult to translate them.”

Sombra groaned a laugh. “Ah,  _ chica,  _ come on! You can’t leave me in suspense for that long and then just give me nothing like that!”

“Very well,” Symmetra sighed, “but my mind is feeling… soft. My thoughts feel like honey. Thick. I do not know whether my translations will adequately explain, but if you wish…” she paused a moment, sighing slowly.

“The four pillars, guiding principles of life, would roughly translate as: acting rightly, according to  _ rta _ , the order of the universe; pursuing material wealth in this world; pursuing pleasures of the senses; and finally pursuing freedom from the eternal cycle of suffering and pain.”

Sombra’s eyebrows raised high. “Eternal cycle of suffering and pain, huh? Man, this Vishkar place sounds really cheery…”

“Those are not  _ Vishkar  _ rules, they are  _ universal _ rules,” Symmetra corrected with a little shake of her head.

“Okay sure - but, so you’re telling me that sex counts as a uh… pleasure of the senses or whatever, but booze doesn’t?” The hacker’s voice was as incredulous as her face.

Symmetra scoffed. “Correct. After this morning I can  _ guarantee _ that the pleasures of alcohol are few. The dizzyness, nausea, they haunt me still - I have never felt so ill after sex.”

Sombra cackled almost manically. “Oh, well we’re  _ definitely _ doing it differently then,  _ amiga!” _

At first Symmetra frowned a little in confusion, but the look on Sombra’s face was the same she seemed to make during jokes so the Architech chuckled and grinned. As long as she could count on the hacker to be consistent, it wouldn’t be difficult to figure out - that was the problem that she ran into with people: consistency. They said one thing and sometimes meant another, and sometimes did not. Laughter could be both kind and cruel.

Hawk-i kept working, oblivious to all the chatter. It wasn’t the noisiest O.R. he’d been in, not even nearly, and he was on to sutures by this point anyway. He could do those with his optisensor off. The clean line flowed freely from a small spool within his hand, out through a fingertip to the needle. First came the slits that he’d opened - clean and easy - then the gashes that had been torn by less precise implements. He grumbled a little as he tugged skin gently back into place before stitching it up.

“Done.” He stood from his crouched position when he finished the last stitch, grabbing a roll of gauzy dressing from a counter along with a small pill bottle which he handed to Sombra. “Give her two of those a day, one each twelve hours apart. Cuts the swelling and chances of infection. No bathing for a week at least - showers are fine but cover the dressings with something waterproof.”

Hawk-i wrapped the gauze around Symmetra’s wounds as he laid out the rules, to which she listened intently. Her eyes caught a hint of puckered flesh at her ribs, the ends of some stitches poking out stiffly, and she felt a sickening coldness settle into her gut but the sight was hidden from view by the doctor’s swift hands before she could focus on it.

“No strenuous physical activity,” he continued, glancing between Sombra and Symmetra both. “Both sex and getting drunk count. No alcohol at all with the pills, not for four hours afterward. Pills on a full stomach. Rest when possible, sleep as much as possible - oh, and this one’s important. I suspect it’ll be really tough for you particularly.” The doctor moved to a sink, washing his hands in a dark green liquid which dribbled from a container, hissing and bubbling as he poured water over it as well to rinse off. “No laughing.”

Sombra chuckled and Symmetra nodded. “Of course, doctor. I appreciate your straightforwardness.”

“I know.” He dried his hands on a towel before heading to the door. “Bring her back in a week to get the dressings changed. And when I say no strenuous activity I  _ mean _ no strenuous activity. I still remember your achilles.”

“Aw, c’mon, doc,” Sombra protested, “that was a long time ago! And I really,  _ really _ needed to-”

“Whatever, if she moves too much you’ll just have to pay for me to patch up a lung. No hugs. I know how much you love hugs. Try not to miss me too much.”

Sombra snickered as Hawk-i left the room. Symmetra tried to push herself upright, but her right arm had almost no strength in it. A combination of drugged numbness and weakness from the surgeries carried out on that side made her falter as she tried to rise.

“Easy,  _ chica,” _ Sombra hissed, stepping close and slipping an arm behind Symmetra’s back, under her shoulders. “He’s gruff but he knows what he’s talking about. Really, you gotta take it easy.” She took it on herself to carry most of the weight, helping Symmetra off of the table and to her feet.

“Maybe just uh…” she glanced over the other woman, now clad in roughly equal amounts of underwear and gauze. “You think you can hold yourself up against the edge of the table here?”

Symmetra nodded hesitantly, her metal hand clamping down on the table’s edge. At least its strength was undiminished, even if hers faltered.  _ What a perfect metaphor. What a perfect reassurance. _ “Yes. Yes, I believe I can.”

Sombra waited for a moment, watchful for and signs of wobbliness. When Symmetra still seemed pretty stable after a few seconds, Sombra went to grab her clothes.

“Gotta admit,” she murmured, crouching down on the ground and holding out the pants so Symmetra could step into them, “you didn’t exactly look bad before,  _ amiga, _ but you’re a lot better after getting cleaned up.”  _ And with all the wounds covered with gauze. _ She grinned up across the Architech’s lithe body.

“The more you speak, the more it sounds as if  _ you _ are the fond one,” Symmetra noted, holding tightly onto the table as Sombra slipped her pants on and stood. Her head spun gently but she tried to pay it little mind. 

The hacker just grinned as she did up the fastenings, leaning in a little closer than she strictly needed to be. “Who, me?” She arched an eyebrow high. The fluorescent lights shone off of her teeth and her eyes.

Symmetra had never noticed quite how light the purple hue of her irises was - it was so vibrant. It couldn’t be natural, not possibly, but it didn’t seem to matter; it somehow was  _ more _ fitting, given the little metal modules that met her skin near the hairline. Her eyes were so  _ bright  _ from this close, as her lips curled slowly into a grin.

“ _ Chica?” _

Symmetra made a little noise, a tiny hum, tipping her head to one side. Her eyes dwelled on Sombra’s lips - they were incredibly active, with tiny little movements that she was  _ sure _ telegraphed so much information, if only she could teach herself to understand it. That little quirk at the corner, the tip of her tongue flashing along - it was clearly a language. Just one Symmetra didn’t speak.

“You gonna lift your arm, or are you walking home shirtless?” Sombra’s grin widened and Symmetra blinked, looking down - Sombra was holding her shirt down near the mechanical hand gripped onto the table, bunched up and ready to be pulled over.

“Oh. Yes. Of course.” She let go and Sombra quickly tugged the shirt on before urging Symmetra’s hand to grab the table once more, leaning around to pull the clothing gently on the other side.

_ Stared at my lips for a real long time there, amiga. _ Her eyes flashed to Symmetra’s as her grin grew a little wider.  _ Man, you’re so easy to see through. Of course you want Sombra - everybody wants Sombra! _ She hummed thoughtfully as she started to do up buttons, from the bottom up, her eyes catching plenty of skin before it got covered.  _ Not the worst plan… _

“I- I feel hot,” Symmetra frowned heavily. “I think I would forego the jacket.”

Sombra flicked it over her shoulder with a wide grin and a waggle of her eyebrows. “Now I wonder why  _ that _ would be,  _ amiga _ . C’mon, let’s head on back - got a whole day to kill, and we’ve gotta do it without alcohol or sex, so it’ll be tough.”

“There are plenty of other things to do.”

“I only know of four,” Sombra held up a hand, flicking fingers upright as she listed items, “and I’m pretty sure shooting guns, running, jumping, and kicking assholes in the face all count as strenuous physical activity. Hmm, and stealing, so five.”

“Mmm.” Symmetra took Sombra’s offered arm in her own, the hacker on her largely uninjured side. Her body felt awkward, even moreso than usual - it was numb, lacking sensation in places. In others it moved just  _ wrong. _ Where the fabric brushed her skin, on the borderline between numbness and sensitivity, was particularly problematic. “Perhaps we can play a board game.”

Sombra sighed as she pushed the door open. “ _ Chica _ , I’d rather get my own ribs broken and sit through another hour of surgery. We’ll find something, though, don’t worry...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sym's Four Pillars being roughly based on (probably poor) translation of the guiding principles in Hinduism; got to admit, I find the interrelationship of Dharma and Rta to be pretty fascinating when considered with Symmetra in mind as a character.
> 
> I like Hawk-i, though I would not like him as a surgeon, I think. I don't think it's hard to see why he and Sombra are friends, though!
> 
> Next time: Sombra does something she's never done before. Symmetra sleeps off the combination of hangover and anaesthetic, and then wakes under the effects of the same - but hey, at least it makes for some fun conversation. Symmetra tries to figure out what Sombra's lips are telling her in their secret language. She succeeds.


	5. Aftermath and Aftercare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The surgery's done, but that doesn't mean Sombra's job is finished - no, no she needs to take care of a loopy-headed Symmetra. As well as figure out where to get food, if not from a bar or a strip club. Symmetra, on the other hand, just wonders why the room is so spinny and compliments Sombra's lips. Caring for other people has never exactly been the hacker's forte, but it looks like she'll need to learn in a hurry. There's only one bed in the bunker, but a little extra warmth is always nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just saying up front that this chapter has nothing to do with aftercare in the BDSM sense, so if you got your interest all piqued over that, sorry - write me a comment asking nicely and I'll write something up for you :P
> 
> Warnings: I don't think there are really any? Sombra gets a little sad at one point but mostly this one's just kinda cute. What can I say: I had fun with drunk-ish Symmetra :D

After returning from the doctor, it had become clear that the drugs were getting Symmetra a little bit loopy. Five minutes straight of giggling had definitely been fun - Sombra was glad she’d caught some video of it, because the way Symmetra giggled was just delightful. Like a child almost - but it hadn’t meant good things for their chances of getting up to anything else. There was a lot still to be talked about.

When she’d laid the Architech down on the bed, though, and gone to get her a drink, Symmetra had fallen fast asleep. Sombra watched her for a moment or two, smiling faintly. Sleep was so peaceful, particularly when it was inspired by drugs or booze - there was something so _placid_ to a drugged sleep. Nobody tossed or turned or screamed. There were no nightmares in a sleep like that.

After a while, though, Sombra pulled herself away to other things. At least it meant she wouldn’t need to play any board games, but she really had been looking forward to the opportunity of getting to know a little more. About Symmetra, about Vishkar, and _especially_ about that arm of hers. What exactly it could and couldn’t do.

There were so many secrets in the world. Knowing half of them was better than not, but it was also very enticing. It made her want to know the rest.

She wondered if Symmetra herself even knew about it. Almost definitely not - at least, not _everything._ There had been eight names on the memo. Six had been killed. One had been ninety years old when the message had been sent out over a decade ago - fate unknown but not looking good. The last could be anywhere. Records went blank, Sombra had _tried_ to find her - but she was nowhere.

Regardless, Sombra knew that nobody else had found it yet. She knew that, because _she’d_ found it - buried deep beneath a desert a few hours outside of Hyderabad, and she’d _found_ it. Gone there herself, laid a hand on those massive metal doors: slightly rusty, and dusty, but definitely _there._ Behind them?

El Dorado _wished_ it could be as sought after as this prize should’ve been. It was the perfect, ultimate freedom from this cesspool of an existence. The only way out of this dank hole.

Although, as Sombra glanced around the subway, she _did_ need to admit that there were parts of the dank hole which weren’t too bad. She was a fan of the bars, and here. One or two other places as well, maybe - there was a strip club around the corner that had bottomless wings. They were shit, but fun to throw at assholes who thought they could fuck around.

A lot had gone through her mind as she sat on the couch, knees crossed and her elbows resting heavily on them as she almost stared at Symmetra. Unfocused eyes, parted lips - the face of a woman deep, deep in thought.

One thing was certain, though, and it had nothing to do with all the rest of that. Sombra’s stomach growled. They needed some food.

Sombra was in the habit of just eating out, every night. There were plenty of snacks around her place but no real _food_ , and if Symmetra was supposed to move as little as possible for the next few days to the next week, Sombra sure as hell wasn’t going to go out _every night_ fetching food back. That was all it was: she didn’t want to feel like a pizza delivery girl.

That was what led to Sombra - for the first time ever - going down to the grocery store for _food._ The clerks had looked so confused when she walked up with baskets full of vegetables and meat, and only three bags of chips and a bottle of tequila. They asked if she was feeling alright. She just rolled her eyes, paid, and left again.

When she got back, Symmetra was awake and wandering around idly. “ _Chica!”_ Sombra urged, shutting the door behind her with one foot. “Don’t walk around! What’re you thinking? Sit down, sit, sit.”

“Mm, right,” she murmured, glancing to the couch and then walking that way. “My body feels wrong.”

“That’s ‘cause it just got put back together _right_ and you were all used to it the other way, relax.” Sombra went to the fridge and loaded in everything she’d bought - except for the chips, of course. That would just be madness.

“I don’t like it.”

“Okay.”

It was difficult for Symmetra to come up with a response to that. She supposed that meant it had been resolved, so that was something at least. “I think my arm is your bear.”

Sombra almost smacked her head on the fridge as she jerked upright and spun around. “ _What?!_ You hit your head over there or something, _amiga?_ ” She had little cold flashes throughout her at even the _mention_ of Oso. Sooner or later she might need to mention that nobody else in the world (who was still alive, at least) had ever seen the little stuffed bear.

Or she could _not_ mention it, and then the Architech wouldn’t know how big a card she held. That sounded better to Sombra.

“My arm,” Symmetra frowned, trying to corral her thoughts. “It- my brain isn’t working correctly. It is rebellious.” She sighed, laying back against the couch. Sitting up was so much _work_. And it was hot. Her fingers tugged uselessly at her top button, lacking the coordination to actually get it undone.

Sombra swung the fridge door shut, and turned around to see Symmetra yanking at her own shirt. “ _Dios mio,”_ she groaned, rolling her eyes. “ _Amiga,_ stop, just- just stop, alright? Don’t try to do anything, just tell me instead.”

“It’s hot!” Symmetra complained, dropping her hands to the couch beside her. She’d been told not to try to do anything, so she wouldn’t.

“Aren’t you from India, _chica?”_ Sombra couldn’t help but laugh at that a little, bringing a bottle of water over to the couch.

Symmetra opened her mouth to respond, but then turned and stared wide-eyed, recoiling. “How did you know that?” she whispered in fear. “I never told you!”

Sombra blinked a few times and then stared back flatly. Slowly, she glanced over the Architech and then back to her face again. “Damn, those drugs really hit you,” she sighed a chuckle. “Look, it’s not hard to guess where you’re from, _chica._ Have you talked to you?”

“I do not have an accent!” Symmetra protested. It would have been a valid point except for the heavy accent, which had only thickened with her medicated state.

Laughing, Sombra opened up the bottle of water. “Here, drink this, _chica._ Try not to spill while I’m undoing some buttons.” She met Symmetra’s gaze with glimmering eyes. “Water and electricity, you know?” She wiggled her fingers a bit, purple motes of light dancing between them.

Symmetra’s eyes widened as the other woman explained the very real risk of electrocution. “That’s _terrible!_ You must smell awful, being unable to bathe.” She leaned in, sniffing - then more, more forcefully, and frowning. “I can’t smell it. You smell of brown sugar and, faintly, lavender.”

Then she leaned back against the couch again, whining, “It’s hot and my head hurts.”

Sombra barely managed to suppress her laughter. It escaped in little snorts and snickers as she undid the top two buttons of Symmetra’s shirt and then debated handing over the bottle of water. _Eh… I mean, I do like a wet t-shirt contest, but this may not be the time._ She opted instead to just lift it right to Symmetra’s dark lips, holding a finger under her chin. “Here, drink up _amiga._ ”

Symmetra did as she was told, and Sombra grinned. “Good. That’s good, okay. Now, I’m glad you like how I smell, or whatever, but I was just messing with you anyway. I can shower just fine - play your cards right and maybe you’ll find out for yourself!”

Symmetra frowned, licking at her wet lips. Her head wobbled slightly on her neck. “Why would I need to find out for myself?” Her eyes met Sombra’s - a little unsteadily, maybe. “You just told me. And I trust you.”

Purple eyes narrowed slightly and her mouth opened a little, curving at the corners. “N- no it… you know what? I take it back.” She grinned solidly, waggling her eyebrows. “I may or may _not_ be able to shower. If you want to know, you’ll need to find out for yourself.”

With a sigh, Symmetra all but dropped her head back against the couch. “But _how_ would I find that out if you will not tell me?”

Sombra snickered. She wasn’t really sure that her drugged friend got what was going on - but that was just generally true. It kind of felt like she was playing chess with someone who had a deck of cards, but hey, at least it was fun. She was _super_ easy to mess with.

“Ah, you’re silly, _chica_ , but I like you. You have a good nap earlier?”

The bed wobbled unsteadily in Symmetra’s vision. “I don’t know. I was asleep. I cannot remember it.” She paused for a moment, frowning heavily and shifting her head to _try_ to hold the bed still, but it only made it worse. “Why is it moving so much?”

Sombra’s eyes flicked that way, but of course the bed was rock steady. If it looked wobbly, that didn’t spell good things. She glanced back to Symmetra with a raised eyebrow. “You don’t look so great there, _chica_ -”

“Earlier you would not stop complimenting my appearance!” Symmetra protested, and Sombra sighed quickly.

“Yeah, no, I- yeah, I mean you’re cute and stuff, but that’s not what I meant, I mea-”

“You are cute too.”

“Thanks, but I really-”

“I like all the purple.”

“Yeah, me too, but this is-”

“You have such _lips!”_

“Gah!” Sombra buried a hand in her long hair, gripping tightly. “ _Chica!_ Shut up for like ten seconds, alright?” She frowned momentarily. “Okay, but I really wanna come back to that point - but the _important_ thing is you look like a drunk who’s about to hurl.”

“I feel _awful_ ,” Symmetra confessed, slumping further into the couch. A sheen of sweat glistened on her forehead, and every part of her that wasn’t actively resting against the couch was unsteady.

Sombra hissed, her face screwing up in concern. “ _Ai_ , that’s what I thought - c’mon, we gotta get you laying down on the bed. I picked up some shit from the grocery store, we can-” the hacker cut off as she slipped an arm behind Symmetra’s back, and the other under her knees.

She wasn’t a bodybuilder, but she was plenty strong enough to handle herself - and more than strong enough to pick up a slightly malnourished engineer. It only took a few seconds to get her to the bed, but they were a few seconds that Sombra dreaded for a few reasons.

Firstly, because if Symmetra started to throw up, the convulsions wouldn’t spell anything good for her stitches or her newly shored-up ribs. She knew she’d get chewed out by Hawk-i if she was back in there so quickly, and she really didn’t want her _amiga_ getting hurt like that.

Secondly, she just _really_ didn’t want to get puked on.

Symmetra hated all of this, every thing that was happening right now. Except for being carried by Sombra, that part was alright - but the rest of it? Awful. Her stomach felt like it was about to burst out of her side, whilst simultaneously trying to crawl up out of her throat, and everything either hurt or itched or felt oddly numb. To top it all off, her mind felt _thick_ , like her thoughts had been spun out of canvas rather than their usual silk.

Then she was on the bed. Sombra wasn’t carrying her anymore. Symmetra frowned as the best thing that had been happening, was then no longer happening. It was always unfortunate when that occurred and it seemed to be the case a lot.

“Here, just- just drink something, _chica,_ ” Sombra snatched up the bottle of water off of the table a short distance away and dashed back, pretty panicked now. “Don’t think about it, alright?”

“Must I not?” Symmetra sighed heavily, frowning a little deeper. “It was nice to think about, though.”

“O- okay, then _do_ think about it - just uh, close your eyes and focus on it, yeah.” The Architech hadn’t taken the bottle of water, didn’t even seem to notice it being offered, but Sombra took a swig now to wet her parched mouth. _Nope, that shit’s still awful, I’ll stick to tequila_

“Thank you,” Symmetra sighed happily, a grin overtaking her frown as she let her eyelids slide shut and her mind drift. Images of Vishkar floated through her head, her bed _there_ \- firm and small, but clean and _hers_ , just a few paces away from her desk. She never wrote at it, but it was nice to have. A chair there was good for sitting (or had been, at least).

She mapped out the exact layout of her room in her head, precise to the centimetre - all three dimensions, every piece of furniture, every shelf and gap from the door inward. _Her_ space. There was only one problem as reality started to collide with memory, past with present; there wasn’t any room for the bear, Oso.

A wider smile slowly spread across Symmetra’s lips as she started to design a shelf for the little stuffed animal. It would fit in perfectly above her own mementos: her first hard-light interface tablet, the dice she made during the course of her first lesson, a small swatch of brightly coloured fabric from before she’d joined Vishkar.

Now she only needed two other things for Sombra and it would be perfect. If she ever got the opportunity…

Sombra visibly relaxed as Symmetra stopped frowning and twitching, as the glisten of sweat on her brow started to subside and her jaw loosened. “That’s better, isn’t it?” she chuckled smoothly, despite the fact that she felt anything _but_ smooth on the inside. Her hand streaked under Symmetra’s hairline, wiping away tiny beads of sweat.

“Yes, much better,” the Architech sighed, grinning. “There is a place for the bear now, on the shelf. If you provide two other things it would be more complete, but it can wait.” Her frown returned, but it was gentle and thoughtful this time. “Hmm. I will need to replace one of mine as well. I did not consider.”

“...what do you mean, a place for the bear, _chica?”_ Sombra raised a hesitant eyebrow. “What are you thinking about?”

Symmetra missed the concern in her voice entirely, and just let out a happy hum. “Oh, I am designing modifications to my room now that we co-habitate. Alterations must be made, and certainly you would be bringing Oso, but there was no space prepared for him. He has a shelf now - or will have, rather, when I can actually _create_ the space.”

The hacker’s eyes widened as she sorted through the sentence, bit by bit. It seemed to take some work, sometimes, to figure out what the odd woman was saying - like trying to sift through somebody else’s code. It just took a minute.

 _Co-habitate?_ So the Architech thought they were permanently living together. Even though it hadn’t even been a full day yet. She was designing a house or something - seemed to be something to calm herself down, given how much more relaxed she was now, and that made enough sense.

She put a shelf in the imaginary house for Oso.

Sombra’s throat tightened up as her eyes flicked over that way to that one remnant of her childhood, the _one_ thing she’d managed to hold on to and not lose. The one thing nobody had been able to take away from her.

His left arm hung a little awkwardly where it had been torn off during an attempted mugging, and she’d stitched it back on not quite correctly. One eye was a button but the other had fallen off, and she’d drawn it on in marker. It had faded over time. Faint sparkles lingered around the lips and eyes from makeup she’d applied decades ago, wondering if Oso would look good as a drag bear.

...and now he had a shelf in an imaginary house.

A tear slid down one of Sombra’s cheeks and, driven by reflex, she wiped it away. She tried to clear her throat but it was closed up too tightly.

Symmetra was oblivious to the hacker’s distress. Her room was so _beautiful_ , she stopped making adjustments and just marveled at it. Everything about it was perfect, the space _and_ the way it was filled - she had moved the desk over a little to arrange the floorspace better for two people, and even shifted one of the walls out a bit. There were _no_ limitations.

On the flip side, Sombra’s thoughts were anything but placid. They were sharp and irregular, with little needles that jabbed at her as they swirled and tumbled around. This had all been going quite well, up until five minutes ago. Find the door, learn about the key, find the girl, _get_ the girl, get the girl to trust her and open up. Get the key.

Now the damn bear had a fucking shelf and Sombra didn’t know what to do with that. She felt like there was a shard of something in her chest, twisting slowly. She thought about Symmetra on the operating table and it wrenched sickeningly. The bear, the girl, the key, the door, the future.

The _future._

That naive ‘vision’ she’d shared - building a new world? The world was useless, it was _dead_ , there wasn’t a new one. Nobody could build a new world, all that anybody could do was try to carve out a little hole for themselves and survive.

Except for Sombra. She _alone_ had another option. She _alone_ had the girl, had the key - she could _escape._

And now the damn bear had a fucking shelf in an imaginary house, a house that she was going to build on top of the ashes of the old world.

There was no rebuilding. Vishkar had tried, among a bunch of other organizations. They were all dead now. Vishkar, Overwatch, LumeriCo, the Vísendakona - dozens had tried, dozens had failed, and most weren’t even _known_ about anymore.

Sombra, though - _Sombra_ knew. She knew how many had tried. It was hopeless. It couldn’t be done.

If she tried, she’d die. If _they_ tried…

The hacker cleared her throat, not really sure when she came to be sitting on the bed, but she was there now. “Do you want some food?”

Symmetra wasn’t sure how long it had been since Sombra’s spoken, but it seemed like it had been a while. She knew she got distracted by things sometimes, she knew people thought it was rude when she didn’t pay attention - she’d been told it enough to know. “Food,” she repeated, to make it clear that she was listening as she lingered in her room.

It would still be here later. She could return whenever she wished. “I don’t think so,” she shook her head gently on the pillow, then gasped. “My arm!”

Sombra twisted abruptly, looking down at Symmetra laid across the bed. Her arm looked fine. “What about it?” she murmured, raising an eyebrow.

Symmetra opened her eyes, tipping her head over to look at Sombra’s face. “I was talking about it earlier. Focus seems difficult given my state, but I- I was trying to say it earlier as well. In the doctor’s office. I think my arm is like Oso; a remnant of my past, a reminder.”

The look on Sombra’s face shifted in ways Symmetra couldn’t understand, but she kept talking, tipping her head back to face the ceiling again. “I have another as well. A scrap of fabric in the pocket of my jacket. My mother was a dancer, I always wished to follow in her footsteps - so graceful, so beautiful; perfect and deliberate in every moment…” she trailed off into light laughter.

A slow frown overtook her lips. It hurt to recall, it threw everything out of balance and order. She started to long for things she could not have, to want for things she didn’t desire. “I am tired. When do we sleep? What time is it?”

Sombra frowned as her thoughts were derailed. “What? Sleep whenever you want, _amiga._ ”

“I don’t like that,” she grumbled a little, and Sombra rolled her eyes.

“Okay, fine, then it’s time to go to sleep. Better?”

“Yes, thank you.” Her hands moved to the buttons of her shirt, tugging ineffectually as her body still refused coordination.

Sombra rolled her eyes again. “ _Ai, amiga -_ stop trying to do things, c’mon. Let me help, just- what’re you doing?”

“Undressing,” she murmured, frowning, “but it’s not working.”

“Why?”

“Because my hands refuse to cooperate.”

Sombra groaned a laugh, rubbing at her forehead as she shook her head. “No, I mean - ah, you’re funny, _chica._ I meant, why are you _undressing?”_

“Because it is time for sleep.”

The hacker didn’t know how to respond to that, but at least Symmetra wasn’t pulling at her shirt anymore.

She glanced around with a frown. “Where will you sleep?”

Sombra shrugged. “I dunno. My chair again maybe. The couch. You gotta have the bed while you’re healing at least.” She held out a finger, narrowing her eyes with a grin. “The second those bones are better, though, the bed is _mine_ , _amiga.”_

Symmetra tipped her head left and right. “The bed is large enough for two, isn’t it?”

Blurting out a laugh, Sombra shook her head. “Damn, _chica_ , you are just- I mean, do you-” she cut off in a laugh. It was a whole big complicated issue, and between the shit she definitely wasn’t going to say and the shit Symmetra definitely wasn’t going to _understand_ , it wasn’t worth going in to.

“Yeah, sure, the bed’s big enough for two.” Sombra waved a hand dismissively, chuckling to try to offset an odd feeling that settled in her gut. She didn’t know what it was, what it meant - but it didn’t matter anyway, she could just laugh and move past it. It had always worked for her in the past.

“In that case, there is no conflict,” Symmetra nodded simply. “But I must not sleep in clothes again. Awakening this morning was quite uncomfortable, and that was part of the reason.”

“Yeah, and it’ll be less uncomfortable to wake up naked next to me, sure,” Sombra murmured, shaking her head as she deftly undid the buttons on the other woman’s shirt. “ _How_ little do you wear to bed, exactly?”

“Nothing.” Symmetra stated, then tipped her head to study Sombra’s face. “You are not planning on wearing anything, are you? That seems like it would be awkward.”

Sombra laughed abruptly, grinning as something popped into her head - something the Architech had said earlier. “Okay, you’re definitely flirting with me now.”

She raised a hand, ticking off fingers as she narrowed her eyes playfully. “You invite me to spend the night in bed with you, then insist that I do it _naked_ , and that’s all on top of all the other shit - plus, earlier, you said that thing about my lips that you _still_ haven’t explained.”

“Oh your lips!” Symmetra gasped, reaching out to touch them, her fingers probing gently. Not _particularly_ gently, though, but Sombra just raised an eyebrow as she prodded.

It was tough to get frustrated by her _amiga_ when all her confusing stuff was so harmlessly unintentional - and the drugs only accentuated that, really. “What _about_ my lips, _chica?”_ Sombra murmured, the words a little distorted by the fingers pressing into her face.

“They’re so much,” Symmetra explained almost in wonder, staring at them. Purple-painted and so mobile, so _active_ as if they had minds of their own. It wasn’t as obvious with her fingers there so she moved her hand to rest on Sombra’s jaw instead. “It is as if they speak a language I cannot understand; dancing in patterns I don’t comprehend. It’s _fascinating…_ ”

Those lips quirked a little, tugging up at one corner. A tiny bit of tension flickered in them, before the barest hint of movement telegraphed Sombra’s tongue running along behind them. It all spoke of something, every little motion was a piece of _something_ , some puzzle that Symmetra couldn’t decipher.

They parted slightly, curving wider as she stared at them in wonder - grew larger as they drew closer, Sombra leaning in. It all meant something, she just didn’t know _what._

As their lips met, though, Symmetra finally figured it out - as Sombra’s tongue pushed into her mouth, she realized what it must have meant. The hacker wanted to _kiss_ her.

She wondered if it had meant that every time. As her fingers trailed back along Sombra’s jaw to curl loosely behind her head, pulling her in, Symmetra’s thoughts flicked back to other times her lips had done similar things.

Had every purple smirk meant she wanted a kiss? Why hadn’t she just _said_ so?

Sombra chuckled slightly, the sound coming from deep in her chest to mingle into the kiss. She held it a little longer - Symmetra was just so _transparent._ Staring at her lips like that, making all those mentions and little “accidental” phrases that she added into their conversations.

The only reason Sombra had ever doubted it - which seemed almost silly, in hindsight, doubting something so obvious - was that her new _chica_ seemed so naive. She was cute, though, and Sombra _did_ like a pliable partner for this kind of thing: it seemed like if anybody told Symmetra what to do, she just did it, regardless of her own thoughts on the matter.

Drinking the soda, stripping off at the doctor’s office - practically everything that had happened at the doc’s, actually. The first two or three times Sombra had gone, she’d almost pulled her gun on him. The first time, she had - twice - but Symmetra just went with it, no complaining, no fighting.

Just the way she was now going with this. Sombra ran her fingers through Symmetra’s shorter hair, twisting them and getting a grip at the back of her head and pulling away from the kiss.

“Not bad, _chica,”_ she grinned, “pretty damn good, actually.” With a little chuckle, she tapped a clawed finger on Symmetra’s lips. “You’re so easy to see through, wanting to kiss me this whole time…”

She leaned in again, and was a little - or a lot - surprised to find Symmetra pulling away with an incredulous look on her face. Not that she could pull away very far, laying on the bed as she was.

“ _Me?”_ Symmetra frowned, letting her hand drop from the back of Sombra’s head. “No, _you_ were the one who wanted to kiss _me._ It was what your lips were saying, I think - but you could have simply asked.”

Sombra recoiled with a laugh, open-mouthed in shocked amusement. “ _Me?!_ Wait, wait _amiga_ , so you think that Sombra - _Sombra,”_ she laid a hand across her chest, eyebrows arched steeply in disbelief before she cackled.

“You think that _Sombra_ wanted to kiss _you?_ No, nono _amig-”_ she cut off, tipping her head thoughtfully. “I mean, not like _no_ no, but- I mean, yeah, I _did_ want to, but it wasn’t _my_ idea, it was yours. I just went along with it because you’re weird and cute and I figured it’d be fun.”

Symmetra shook her head slowly. “No, I- I _distinctly_ recall laying here on the bed while you lowered yourself over me.”

Sombra’s eyes widened, the gesture interrupted by a series of rapid blinks. Her jaw hung slack. Symmetra began to frown thoughtfully.

“W-well, _yeah_ , that’s what happened, but it’s just ‘cause-”

“So you _did_ kiss me.” Symmetra’s frown deepened, brows furrowing in confusion as her eyes unfocused. She must have missed something. She always felt this way after a thing happened, it seemed. Almost any thing.

“Well, _yeah,_ ” Sombra sighed in exasperation. “But just because you _wanted_ me to! You were asking for it!”

“I was not. I was not opposed to the idea, certainly, and it was enjoyable, but it was not a primary urge of mine - if it had been, I would have asked.” She nodded briefly, then smiled a little. “Like this! Sombra, might we kiss?”

Sombra just stared. Her eyes slowly widened as blood rose in her cheeks, in a bizarre triple-whammy of frustration, exhilaration, and oddly, embarrassment. Her mind refused to really cooperate, though she really wanted to speak. She just didn’t know what she wanted to _say._

Instead, she did what she always did - laughed it off. Brightly and amused, shaking her head, purple hair bobbing as she slapped at her knee. “Ah, you’re great, _amiga_. Man, you had me going for a second there!”

Symmetra raised her eyebrows. “Is that a ‘no’?”

“No, what?”

“I asked after a kiss.”

Sombra’s eye twitched a little as the gears in her head stuck entirely for a second. _Oh, fuck it._ She dropped forward, rolling her eyes with a chuckle and lowering herself for another kiss. Symmetra sighed into it and Sombra chuckled, stroking a finger along her jaw - keeping herself supported on her elbows, of course, so as to avoid causing any more damage to the injuries.

“There, you happy now?”

“Mmm, quite. It was a good idea you had.”

The hacker took a breath and caught it between her teeth, eyes searching the ceiling. _Dios mio are you kidding? You need to be. You gotta be kidding. Yeah, yeah, you’re a funny guy, sure._ “Well, I’m always happy to take the credit,” Sombra murmured darkly, shaking her head a little. What she was _really_ happy for was just letting the whole topic drop.

 _She_ knew that the kissing had been Symmetra’s idea - the desires had been written in those dark eyes as plain as day. Whether Symmetra admitted to it hardly mattered. “Now, you still tired?”

Symmetra sighed with a smile. “Quite. Though I am still wearing too many clothes.”

Snickering, Sombra undid the final few buttons on her shirt. “Yeah yeah, keep your pants on, _amiga.”_

“It would be counter-productive for m-”

“It was a joke!”

Symmetra giggled, grinning. “I know. I was joking in return!”

The hacker laughed at that, shaking her head in disbelief. Maybe she had been, maybe she hadn’t - Sombra didn’t know, or really care at this point. It kind of felt like the conversation was just spiralling out of control, and it was kind of frustrating but she supposed it was fun as well.

“Very funny, _chica,”_ she murmured, glancing over with sparkling eyes. “Now c’mon, you’re starting to sound a little loopy, you should get some sleep.”

“Maybe _you’re_ the one who’s sounding loopy,” Symmetra giggled again, longer this time. “No, I think it _is_ me, yes.”

Sombra wasn’t actually sure how far to go with the stripping, but naked had been mentioned and Symmetra didn’t stop her at any point - just kept giggling, actually, with the occasional comment about being ticklish.

“Hey, you gotta stop giggling, _amiga!_ I mean it’s cute and all, but you’re gonna pop a stitch or something, okay?” Sombra raised an eyebrow, grinning widely as she started in on her own clothes instead.

Symmetra nodded, grinning but biting her lips together and trying - really _trying_ \- to suppress the giggles. It was all just so funny, though! How clearly Sombra’s wishes had been etched on her lips, yet she still tried to deny it: if that wasn’t a joke, that clear irony, Symmetra didn’t know what was. It was hilarious and just kept circling her whirling and somewhat muddied mind.

At least the purple woman was kind enough to provide her with a distraction. She didn’t make much of a show of stripping, but it was something to watch - an interesting process, seeing layers revealed one after another. Symmetra wondered how much of her clothing was custom-made, and guessed that the figure would be fairly high.

A jacket over a shirt, skirt over leggings - she wore many layers but didn’t waste time in removing them. She just dropped them to the floor, where Symmetra was sure they crumpled in heaps, but she couldn’t _see_ them so that was something at least. She just focused on Sombra instead.

Purple line ran from her fingertips up her arms, meeting at her spine and travelling up toward her head. Symmetra found herself a little entranced by the patterns, and wanted to ask to trace them, but her eyelids felt so heavy she wasn’t sure she’d be able to fully appreciate it.

As Sombra got into the bed next to her - on her less-injured side, and tugged a blanket up over them both - Symmetra’s thoughts started to drift more erratically. She heard fingers snap and the lights went out.

Sombra laid with her back to Symmetra’s side, close enough to be touching but just barely. It wasn’t a _huge_ bed, but she had to admit it would be nice to sleep in it. Her neck was still a little sore from the chair yesterday. “Get some sleep, _amiga._ We’ll talk more tomorrow or whatever.”

Symmetra hummed and shifted a little, and before long Sombra heard her breaths lengthen and deepen. Sleep. For her, at least. Sombra wasn’t really much of a sleeper. Maybe in a few hours she would.

With a slow sigh, she waved her hand and brought a half-dozen screens up to float in front of her. The purple light glowed across her face and arms, but it wasn’t too bright - the glow didn’t make it any further than her, really.

She double-checked some things. There was still a ways to go, definitely, but things were on track - she felt good about that.

So what was that little gnawing in her gut? Some kind of nervousness or anxiety, but what it was over, Sombra couldn’t tell. She checked the building’s security again: no movement, nothing on any of her cameras. Not that, then. Something else.

For a few hours, Sombra tried to lose herself in her work, but to no avail. She just couldn’t concentrate enough - things slipped and she found herself doing the same things over and over again. Games didn’t work any better, and they were normally a perfect distraction.

Grunting softly, she flipped over onto her back and let the screens drop away. Staring into the blackness above her did nothing to relieve the feelings, nor to help her off to sleep. Her thoughts whirled unhappily, focusing on little snags of worry. They spiralled tighter and tighter, darkened further until she couldn’t stand it any more.

Carefully, she extracted herself from the bed and went back over to the wall again. She’d memorized the path and every item between here and there. She walked it often enough, that much was certain.

After she’d retrieved Oso, she returned to the bed. Whatever, Symmetra wouldn’t mock her for it - and if she did, well, Sombra would just deal with it then.

She moved a little closer to the Architech on the bed. She was warm, but not feverishly so, and there was something comforting about the rhythm of her breathing.

Curled up with her spine laid along Symmetra’s side and both arms wrapped around her childhood teddy bear, Sombra fell into an initially restful sleep. As the night went on, periods of discontent disturbed her gentle rest, but never much and never for long. She was very good at moving past things like that, even in her sleep.

Always had been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was all pretty fun to write. There's plenty more to come down the pipe! Join us next time when Symmetra's back in her right mind again, and it's not necessarily just a good thing. After all, Sombra's dirty. (Yes, intentional innuendo)


	6. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up in bed with a woman is nothing new to Sombra, although this morning is definitely different given the circumstances. After some brief confusion, Sombra and Symmetra lay out some ground rules about living in the same space - which is to say that _Sombra_ lays out some rules. Then, she goes to take a shower, but gets an unexpected surprise. Sombra doesn't like rats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mildly NSFW - but pretty much just suggestions, really. Although actually, honestly, probably _all_ things here on Ao3 are NSFW? I mean, let's be honest, is there a time that you'd be reading a fanfic at work and your boss would lean over and see your screen and just be like "ah, it doesn't say cock or pussy, you're good - keep on reading, Jim!". I mean, I'm just saying, I think you should maybe not be reading fanfic at work in general if you're concerned about how your boss might react?  >.>
> 
> But yeah, moderately detailed (non-anatomical) shower scene and suggestive content (because Sombra), so... there's that. Plan accordingly I guess.

Sombra woke up slowly. Warm, happy, fuzzy-headed. Sombra woke up with Oso clutched between her arms and a gentle grin on her lips.

Sombra woke up with a finger tracing patterns on her back.

...and a  _ confusing _ lack of a hangover.

_ What the… _

“ _ Amiga?” _ She murmured, blearily blinking but not moving much yet. “That you back there?”

The finger stilled. Hesitated. She could practically  _ feel _ the expression of panicked surprised on Symmetra’s face - how wide those dark eyes of hers would be, her lips just a little bit pursed. The thought had her smirking.

“I found the patterns fascinating. I realize now that I, perhaps, should have asked first.”

“Pfft, fuck that,” Sombra muttered, stretching a little and then tugging the blanket down a bit to bare more of her back, right down to the waist. “Why ask permission when you could ask forgiveness instead?”

Symmetra blinked, frowning. “Well… because you should? _ ”  _ She paused for a moment. “It was never well-explained to me either. I appreciate knowing that I was not the only one to miss that piece of information.”

“Yeah, whatever  _ amiga,” _ Sombra muttered, still half-asleep and not caring to bother trying to sort through the Architech’s half-rambles. She rolled over to lay on her stomach instead of her side, face buried in the pillow, Oso tucked under one arm. “Go ahead,” she murmured into the pillow, “take a look or whatever, inspect your patterns, whatever you want.”

“Truly?” Symmetra’s voice was a combination of awe, confusion, and excitement.

“ _ Chica _ , as long as you don’t stick a finger up my ass, we’re good. I’ll need at least a shot of tequila first if-” her joke was cut off in the middle as Symmetra pushed herself over onto her back, neatly squeezing all the air out of Sombra’s lungs, and sat up with a little squeal of glee.

So much for the plan to go back to sleep - but hey, this was basically a free massage. Sombra didn’t mind so much.

Symmetra started at one corner, one shoulder - tracing the purple line back along Sombra’s tan skin to a central locus where they swirled in a pattern which was incomprehensible to her, but it didn’t matter. She chose a path and committed it to memory as her finger trailed along, carrying further until she reached the  _ other _ shoulder and then paused.

The lines went down her arms as well.

Symmetra frowned.

Sombra did the same as her “massage” was interrupted.  _ What now? Are you seriously kidding me with- _ she sighed as she realized what it probably was. Pushing up from the bed - but not so quickly as to dislodge Symmetra’s finger - she wedged Oso in between her breasts and collapsed back down to the bed, stretching her arms down and out to the sides so the lines of implanted circuitry were clearly accessible.

Symmetra began to trace again happily, humming a bit to herself, and Sombra had to admit that it  _ was _ pretty relaxing. The appreciation for her mods was nice, of course, and the gentle touch wasn’t unappreciated either - the odd  _ chica _ had even chosen to sit right where Sombra had a little bit of a sore muscle in her lower back, and stretched that out nicely.

As Symmetra got down to one fingertip, she tapped it lightly and moved to another, starting there to run the line back up. She took a different path through the nexus on Sombra’s spine, and this circuit went up, along metallic ridges up her vertebrae and into hair.

Sombra quite liked that bit, slowly letting all of her air out in a sigh as Symmetra followed the patterns of the circuits there along her scalp. At some point, she drifted off to sleep again.

Symmetra carried on in delight until she had traced every single line - with as few repetitions as possible, of course, distributed evenly - and then started again. She didn’t know  _ when _ they were meant to get out of bed, but she knew she would be informed. She could always inquire.

For now, this helped. All of the little pains slipped away, all of the frustrations - her ribs were so easy to ignore as she followed these circuits, all the little complaints of her body. Her joints didn’t ache, her lip didn’t hurt where it was split - despite her smile. Or rather, it did, but the pains didn’t  _ matter. _

Eventually through the lingering lightheadedness, she realized that she was missing something. She needed to take her pill.  _ Where did those end up? _

Gently, she leaned off of Sombra and stepped to the floor, padding softly around the room. There were many things around the abode, very few of which looked familiar, and she tried to recall the day before to figure out where the pills were.

It was the second time in as many days that she was unable to piece together a reliable interpretation of the prior day’s events. A worrying trend, and one which she hoped did  _ not _ continue.

Her clothing was piled haphazardly on the floor, and her lips wrinkled in distaste as she looked down at it. Attempting to bend down was fruitless as her ribs protested, but she couldn’t just leave it  _ laying _ there. It was all scattered. It was all wrong.

It took several minutes and a lot of concentration, and more than a little pain, but she managed to gather her things and fold them, draping them across the arm of the couch. Three attempts to actually _put on_  her shirt ended in no progress, so she simply draped it over her shoulders instead.

“ _ Amiga. _ What gives. Whatcha stopping for?” The words were heavily muffled and Symmetra didn’t need to look back to know Sombra hadn’t moved and was still lying facedown in the bed.

“This place is filthy. I need to take my pills. Where did you put them?”

“It’s not filthy, it’s just messy. And it’s not messy. They’re over here under the pillow. Work on my shoulders and I’ll get ‘em out for you.”

Symmetra rolled her eyes as she heard muffled snickering from behind her.  “I need those pills. Sombra.”

The hacker sighed as she heard the total lack of humour in Symmetra’s voice. “Ugh, fine. So much for sleeping.” She rolled over slowly and brought up a screen. Her eyes widened in shock at what she saw displayed there. “ _ SEVEN THIRTY?  _ In the  _ morning? Chica, _ are you  _ crazy?!” _

Symmetra frowned as she turned around. “You never gave me a time at which to wake. I simply chose my standard, six o’clock. Was that too late in the day?”

“Too lat-” Sombra cut off as she faked a swoon, but it was a highly ineffective gesture given that she was still laying down. “ _ Chica. _ Listen up. If you  _ ever  _ wake me up before  _ noon _ again-”

“I’ll find myself on the wrong end of your gun, with you pissed off enough to pull the trigger?” Symmetra smirked wryly.

“Heyyy, she’s getting it!” Sombra snickered.

Symmetra frowned a little, unsure of who Sombra was talking to and deciding to stick to sensible conversation topics instead. “Noon? Are you quite sure? How do you  _ ever _ get anything accomplished?”

“Well, for starters, I do shit. Then, it accomplishes shit. There. Shit accomplished,” she grumbled as she pushed herself out of bed and held Oso tightly against her side. “Don’t usually get to sleep until the sun’s coming up anyway.” She paused for a second. “Wait, did you say you got up at  _ six? _ You poked at my circuits for an  _ hour and a half?” _

“Waking up earlier is far more efficient than staying up late,” Symmetra explained with a sigh, “but very well. Regardless, where are my pills?”

Sombra just stared for a second before she shook her head. Whatever, she’d slept well enough - and surprisingly early - and she felt fine. Pretty great overall, actually. Maybe she’d consider going to sleep  _ not _ drunk a little bit more often.

Maybe.

“Yeah, okay, it- yeah. Don’t want you getting infected or whatever.” She shuffled over toward where she’d dropped her clothes from the day before, grabbing her jacket with her toes and lifting it - tilting precariously backward in an attempt to balance as she tried to stretch forward and snatch up the coat in her hand. She managed it and laughed, pumping a fist into the air triumphantly.

“Yes, nailed it! Anyway, here’s your pills.” She pulled out the bottle and tossed it over with a grin.

Symmetra caught it with a frown. “Why not simply bend down and pick up your jacket? It would have been far less effort.”

Sombra snickered. “Where’s the fun in  _ that? _ ”

_ Ah. _ The Architech nodded slightly.  _ So, it is one of those things, then. Very well. _ “This place is a chaotic mess. One could not hope to accomplish anything in such an environment.”

“Yeah, well, it ain’t for accomplishing stuff, I got another room for that.”

_ I’ll be the judge of that.  _ Symmetra twisted the cap off of the pill bottle and removed one before resealing the container. “Food?”

“Fridge,” Sombra grunted, hiking her thumb that way as she went to hide Oso away again. At some point she’d probably put on clothes, but she was feeling a shower first.

“Thank you. Would you like anything in particular for breakfast?”

Sombra laughed abruptly. “Man, you’re gonna cook for me, too? At this rate I’m never gonna let you leave,  _ chica _ \- yeah, I got some eggs yesterday, those would make something good, eh?”

“Mm,” Symmetra nodded, parsing a short list of recipes in her head. Ingredients would be the determining factor. Tugging open the fridge, her face briefly fell. Nothing matched up correctly, and that mustard had expired four months ago. She leaned closer and then recoiled suddenly.

Two  _ years _ ago. Not four months.

Well, that was one shelf she would simply avoid in its entirety. Time to get creative with the ingredients - at least that was a trait she knew she had in spades.

Sombra splayed herself out along the couch, flipping a few screens around and checking on some things. It all seemed pretty much to be going according to plan - so much of it ran itself once it was set up. Little filters and snatchers, programs the trawled the net for juicy bits of info. Or for bank account numbers, nudes, whatever - Sombra wasn’t picky.

A short while later, she sniffed at the air as she heard sizzling. “Damn, that smells good,  _ chica.  _ Spicy. Woman after my own heart - whatcha makin’?”

“Eggs,” Symmetra responded before explaining further. “Spicy eggs.”

Sombra snorted and rolled off of the couch, catching herself on the balls of her feet and popping upright. She sauntered over to what counted as a kitchen - a hotplate, an electric kettle, and five microwaves. Often she subsisted on little more than frozen meals and microwave popcorn. Sometimes  _ just _ the popcorn, but usually not for more than a week or two.

Usually.

Candy, too, of course, but she didn’t keep that in the kitchen - she wasn’t crazy. She kept it in a dresser at the side of the room for the most part, and just scattered around. It was best if there was always some within reach - she’d heard that there was never a spider more than five feet away, and she’d decided that she always wanted chocolate  _ closer _ to her than a spider.

Symmetra stood at the hotplate with a pan she’d found. Somewhere. Sombra frowned at that, but chalked it up to one of those things that just cropped up some places. The hacker stepped close and peered over her shoulder to get a look at the goods.

...and the eggs, too.

“Nice,” she murmured, nodding a little. “Looks good. What’s in it? And don’t say eggs.”

“Why would there be  _ eggs _ in it?” Symmetra joked with a scoff and a smirk. “It clearly consists of nothing more than fabric scraps and old tires. I thought it would better befit the location.”

“You know, I think it’s even more impressive with that in mind,” Sombra snickered. From this close, the eggs smelled delicious. The thought of Symmetra talking about her scent the day before flicked through her mind unbidden and she grinned.  _ See right through you, amiga. Now you’re even making me breakfast! _

“Eggs and serrano peppers, diced. Minced garlic. Salt, pepper, freshly ground. Chives. I plan on topping them with shredded cheese. Cheddar.”

“Damn,” the hacker murmured, “I didn’t even know I  _ had _ half of that shit…”

Sombra turned to look at Symmetra’s face - leaning over her shoulder, only an inch or two away from brushing skin to skin, lips to neck. No response, no reaction. As if she wasn’t even there. Well  _ that _ wouldn’t work. She leaned closer and watched intently as Symmetra’s face… 

...did nothing. Just looked down at the eggs.

“Your proximity is quite distracting.” Symmetra’s eyes didn’t move in the slightest as she flipped the eggs around to keep them from burning. “If you want another kiss, you will need to wait until I am finished cooking.”

Sombra backed off with momentary shock that soon gave way to laughter as she doubled over and slapped at her knees. “Hey, I thought you said you didn’t remember,  _ amiga! _ I mean, you obviously don’t -  _ you _ were the one who wanted all the kisses, after all. You even asked for ‘em, remember?”

Symmetra sighed, rolling her eyes.  _ Incorrect. Rather, correct but irrelevant - but I recall how attempts to explain resolved yesterday. Frustration and nothing more. Very well. If there is only one path available…  _

“I don’t recall it with acceptable clarity,” she conceded, “but I do remember much.” Her brow furrowed a little. “Some. At least.”

With a chuckle, Sombra went to find some plates. “Sure, whatever you say,  _ amiga _ \- you want something to drink with those eggs? I got plenty of water ‘cause I know how much you love it.”

“It is the optimal drink,” she shook her head. “Love has nothing to do with it, luckily.” It would be foolish to predicate something on an ability which she’d only ever been told she lacked.

Sombra didn’t know what to do with that, so she just left it alone. In a cupboard she found some plates and a couple of little bags of plastic cutlery, pulling out a pair of forks before she headed back over to Symmetra. She was done cooking, and doled out breakfast for each of them before they went to the couch to eat.

It did smell delicious. It  _ looked _ delicious, like a piece of art almost. Sombra hummed as she took her first mouthful, speaking around it. “Damn, that’s great! Good job,  _ amiga - _ I’ll let you cook for me more often, I think.”

“How very kind of you,” Symmetra murmured with a smirk, enjoying her own eggs. She sat upright with the plate set evenly across her knees, whereas Sombra was sprawled out over a full two-thirds of the couch, plate balanced precariously on her chest. She dropped a bit of egg onto herself.

Symmetra’s lips curled back in disgust again as Sombra plucked up the fallen bit of egg from herself and tossed it into her mouth.

“This place is filthy,” she reiterated, shaking her head. “So are you.”

“Oh, you don’t know the  _ half _ of it,  _ amiga! _ ” Sombra grinned. “Play your cards right and find out just how  _ filthy _ I am!” She cackled briefly before filling her mouth with eggs instead.

Symmetra just looked away and tried not to think about it. Or listen to it. It was very difficult. She was  _ quite _ loud. The far worse part was the  _ environment. _ The room was so chaotic. The eggs were suddenly less appetizing, but Symmetra knew she should eat, so she did. Her gut yearned for the food, even if her mouth and throat recoiled at the prospect of eating.

The past two days she’d been dazed, distracted, and/or drugged enough not to notice how truly awful this place was. There were bits of clothing everywhere - discarded leggings, skirts, bras. A sock appeared to be stapled to the ceiling, and Symmetra could only frown at that.

It was a chaotic world in general, and had been for years. Perhaps forever. That was why it simply needed to be rebuilt. Until then, she could endure it.

...in theory.

Sombra just glanced over as again -  _ again -  _ Symmetra missed a joke. It was starting to seem like a joke in and of itself, actually. Just not a funny one. She had that look on her face again, like a computer locked up halfway through a code or a possum taken by surprise. 

“If it bothers you that much, you can clean it or whatever,” Sombra mentioned offhand, taking a swig of orange soda and another mouthful of eggs.

Symmetra’s shoulders relaxed in visible relief and a stream of questions flew from her mouth. They’d clearly been building up pressure in there. “Where are the cleaning supplies? Where are the scattered items to be stored? Is any organizational scheme in place, and if so, what is it? To what extent should I organize? Where would I-”

“I  _ so _ don’t  _ care _ ,  _ chica, _ ” Sombra sighed in exasperation before licking her plate to get all the tasty juices off. “Just… whatever, okay? I don’t care.”

“People repeatedly say that but it never seems to align with reality,” Symmetra muttered darkly as she stared at her eggs.

Sombra laughed sharply. “Ain’t that the truth! But trust me - when Sombra says she doesn’t care? She doesn’t care.” 

She held up a hand, ticking items off of her bright-purple-metal-clawed fingers. “Don’t touch the bear; don’t clear me out of sodas, booze, or candy; don’t throw away my clothes; try not to light anything on fire unless I’m there to cheer you on. Unless you find a rat. That, you can burn without me. There are the rules of Cleaning for Sombra.” She took a little bow - or at least, as much of a bow as was possible while she was laid back on the couch with a plate on her chest. Which was to say, not very much of a bow at all.

“Is the third person really necessary?” Symmetra grumbled. “It is difficult enough to comprehend people normally.”

With a confused snort, Sombra tossed her plate haphazardly onto a nearby coffee table. The fork bounced off and fell to the floor. “Yes, it’s necessary. Anyway, your English seems pretty good,  _ amiga - _ can’t be that hard for you to understand.”

Symmetra half-rolled her eyes, long ago instilled as an appropriate reaction to obvious falsehoods - Sombra knew, she  _ must _ know by now, they’d spent days around each other.  _ Everybody _ knew. They certainly never let  _ her _ forget it.

“Anyway,” Sombra sighed, stretching her arms up above her head and catching a glimpse of a spot of something on her chest out of the corner of her eye.  _ Oh right, egg. Meh.  _ “As long as you woke me up so early, I might as well get some work done - don’t do anything stupid for the next twenty minutes or so. Be back.”

Without further explanation, she pushed herself off of the couch and ambled away, snapping her fingers and chuckling for seemingly no reason. Symmetra watched her go, hips swaying, and a frown grew across her lips as her eyes dropped to the discarded plastic fork.

Music started playing - some sort of electronic jazzy thing - mostly in another room.

The sounds of a shower from elsewhere at least answered what Sombra was  _ doing _ , although it did pose other questions - but there were more pressing concerns first. Symmetra quickly finished her eggs and then shuffled along the couch until she could lower herself - carefully - to retrieve the fork which lay on the ground. She laid it with hers and stacked her plate on top of Sombra’s, then realigned them so they matched up with the edges of the table.

_ Better. _ Her eyes flicked nervously to the rest of the room, but the task was daunting enough to make her cringe and try to shrink away back into the couch.  _ I wonder if this is why people drink? It was certainly easier to tolerate when I could scarcely notice it. An interesting possibility, at the least. _

 

\---

 

Sombra sang half of a song in the shower, and half of another, neither of which lined up with the one which was playing over the speakers. She let the water peel away all the dust and heat that soaked into her skin - and deeper than that, all the worries and frustrations and confusions of the past few days.

She  _ still _ felt a little bit dirty for buying actual  _ groceries. _ With real money. Money that could’ve bought candy, or tequila, or bullets, or porn, or a thousand other things more useful than  _ groceries. _

But her pet had needed food. Sombra smirked at the thought, water running over her closed eyes and curved lips before making its way over the rest of her.  _ Maybe a little weird to think of her as a pet, actually. Particularly with the kissing and shit. _

She turned the water down a little bit as it surged slightly hotter. The streaks of water found different paths as Sombra’s brows drew tighter together, her shoulderblades shifting tensely as she thought back on it. It was just all  _ weird _ and  _ confusing _ , that was all - Sombra had kissed lots of people for lots of reasons, and most of them weren’t even memorable enough to be recalled the next day. Not  _ just _ because of the alcohol, either.

Why did Symmetra keep rattling around in her head, then? Sometimes she seemed so naive -  _ beyond _ naive, it was like she’d just lived under a rock. Like she just never subscribed to the same channels of life that everybody else got.

Then there were moments that were so different, though - matter-of-fact dealings with thugs in an alleyway, a surprising shrewdness (sometimes), and damn the  _ chica _ had some technique with her tongue.

Sombra’s grin widened at that thought as she started to relax into the hot water.

_ Meh. I said twenty minutes… but she can wait an extra ten or so. _

Then, though, there was a noise that interrupted her thoughts. Before she could wipe her eyes clear to take a glance, though (if there was a rat in here she was going to  _ scream _ her ass off), she felt something bump into her. Something  _ way  _ too big to be a rat.

She hoped.

“ _...amiga?” _ The one-word query was very hopeful.

“It is good to see that your circuitry is truly waterproof.”

Sombra swung her hand blindly, striking against a metal arm as she growled. “Damnit  _ amiga _ \- don’t sneak up on a girl like that! You’re gonna give me a heart attack. I thought you were a rat.”

“Perhaps if you kept a tidier home, it would dissuade your phobia of rats?” Symmetra suggested with a smirk.

“Why are you in my shower, anyway?”

Symmetra blinked, standing half out of the water. It seemed very poorly designed to accommodate multiple people, and Sombra really had made no concessions to let her partake fully. Indeed, she just stood there with a raised eyebrow and her arms crossed as the water cascaded over her..

“I have not bathed in days, I was disgusting. You told me to join your shower. Yesterday.” Symmetra’s frown deepened.  _  I could not have misunderstood that. Could I? _

Sombra really,  _ really _ tried to look stoic - angry, even; judgmental and affronted, but it didn’t work. Her lips, pressed together firmly, began to tremble and lose their straightness as her shoulders rose and fell slightly. Soon they were shaking outright and she couldn’t suppress the laughter. She ended up shaking her head and leaning against the wall to keep herself from falling over.

“ _ Chica _ , if- you know what, it’s not even worth it. Just trust me that this is hilarious and I love it.” Her eyes flicked to the Architech’s bandaged wounds - she’d found some plastic wrap to waterproof them.  _ Good. _ A wide grin played across her lips as she grabbed a bar of soap and held it out. “C’mon, as long as you’re stealing some of my water, you could at least gimme a hand here.”

“Water efficiency is one of the reasons I accompanied you,” Symmetra explained with a frown. “I am unused to communal showers such as this. It is very small.”

Sombra snorted. “That’s ‘cause it ain’t,  _ strictly speaking,  _ a communal shower,  _ chica.” _

Symmetra blinked several times and took a step backward. “Oh. You mean…?”

Sombra turned to face her with a sharklike grin, the illusion only accentuated by her skin glistening with water and hair slicked back and down against her. She advanced and Symmetra leaned back a little further, supporting herself against the wall behind herself.

“Ah, c’mon  _ chica,” _ Sombra chuckled, standing back upright again. “Ain’t gonna chase you forever, you know - why do you keep trying to pretend like you  _ don’t _ think I’m hot, anyway?”

“I- I don’t recall ever trying to assert anything of the sort,” Symmetra cleared her throat. “You are… perhaps unconventional for my usual tastes, but I cannot deny your attractiveness. Particularly now, with the… wet.” Her eyes fixated on Sombra’s slick skin, the water running in sheets that practically steamed; catching on the lines that ran down her arms, the lines that Symmetra’s fingertips could still remember tracing.

It looked like her lips were asking for a kiss again.

Sombra wasn’t blind, she could see the way the Architech was looking at her. Even if she  _ had _ been blind, she was pretty sure she could’ve  _ felt _ it. “Oh, no? Can’t deny it?” She glanced down, twisting a little bit to the left and right. She was a pretty damn big fan of herself - inside and out. A personality that wouldn’t quit (with legs to match), and just so damn  _ stylish _ ; how could people  _ not _ want her?

Symmetra really tried to say something, but her mouth didn’t want to co-operate. It kept trying to form the last word it had made, on autopilot - and soon started a loop of that word just repeatedly running through her head.  _ Wet. Wet. Wet. _ She managed to coax herself into nodding, but then couldn’t decipher whether that was correct, so she shook her head. That also was indeterminate, so she just let out a bit of a whimper as her face twisted in confusion.

Sombra rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Oh, come  _ on _ ,  _ chica! _ ” She held out the soap in one flat palm with a wry smirk. “Okay, I’ll give you a very simple choice.” Her other hand slid down her body until it was centred between her legs, below her pierced belly button.

Symmetra couldn’t take her eyes off of that hand. She wanted it gone again - no, she wanted it replaced with her  _ own _ .

“Choose a hand.”

With a rough whine, Symmetra practically fell forward from the wall she was supporting herself on. Her ribs hurt, most of her body hurt, but she didn’t  _ care. _ She shoved the soap quickly into its little dish off to the side and grabbed at Sombra’s neck to pull her in for a kiss. She was  _ pretty  _ sure this was what the hacker had wanted, but at this point she didn’t really care. It was what  _ she _ wanted.

Sombra giggled into Symmetra’s mouth, readjusting her head a little bit for a more comfortable angle. The lighthearted noise was replaced with a guttural moan as metal fingers interlaced with hers, tickling at the sensitive skin between her legs.  _ Did I say ten minutes? Make it forty-five. _

There was only one problem. The hacker’s hand drifted lightly across plastic-wrapped gauze and pulled her out of the moment. The injuries had to be accounted for.

With a grunt, Sombra pushed herself back and away from Symmetra. With a wordless sound, Symmetra tried to follow, but Sombra held a palm flat against her chest and fixed her with a stern glance.

“No. Ugh, I mean - not _now._ _Yes,_ but not now. You got those ribs and shit to worry about, _chica._ ”

Symmetra’s face shifted a few times as she cleared her throat and then shivered a little, her thumb running along her finger. “O- of course. Yes.” She huffed, frowning. “They were displeasing enough previously.”

Sombra snorted, picking up the soap again. “Yeah, it can always get worse, eh? C’mon, might as well  _ actually _ do my back.” She sighed, pulling her soaked hair forward over her shoulder to make room. “Don’t be too rough back there - just like this morning would be perfect.”

It really was perfect, except for one thing: Symmetra needed to use her non-prosthetic hand, and it was on the injured side; it couldn’t be raised for long without straining her injuries. So, Sombra had to kneel down - which she didn’t like  _ at all - _ but as a metal hand started to massage shampoo into her long hair while a finger traced soap all along her circuits, she sighed and nodded. “Yeah,  _ that _ is the stuff…”

Symmetra was well-practiced at keeping her urges at bay. She had hundreds of them and they assaulted her almost constantly - wanting to move an item on a table, to twitch her nose in just a certain way, to readjust a joint, usually wrists or shoulders, repeatedly. At worse times, more drastic ones would emerge, and they were harder to suppress. Lashing out, shouting, striking her head against the wall - urges that would not only possibly be physically harmful to her, but were also unmistakeable to others and never went without notice.

A lifetime of being ridiculed or worse, however, had taught her a variety of ways to quash the urges, and she rarely had much trouble. Only once or twice a week, these days, or even less - a truly tremendous improvement from earlier in her life, and one she complimented herself on frequently.

Right now, however, the only thing keeping her from dropping to the floor of the shower and pulling Sombra on top of her was the sharp pain in her ribs that redoubled at the mere thought of it.

Quickly, though, she found joy in her work - as she always did. The patterns were wonderful, cleansing was always pleasant, and Sombra’s noises of appreciation had a draw all of their own.

Although the latter definitely  _ did _ contribute to certain urges she was actively denying.

It was no new thing to her, though. Some days it felt like her life consisted almost entirely of denying herself, yet it didn’t matter. She was still her, even with a false shell surrounding - and it was only  _ some _ days. There would be other days.

There would be a whole new  _ world. _

Until then, nothing else mattered. Or at least, nothing else  _ had _ mattered. Symmetra had never  _ wanted _ anything else - never since Vishkar fell and she took up their torch for her own. Now, though, she was carving out a space in this new world.

She wondered idly, as she massaged soap into Sombra’s shoulders, whether the hacker could be convinced to arrange her mess according to some pattern. Symmetra could always clean up after her. That would work perfectly well.

The Architech hummed an idle tune from her childhood as she worked. The new world was looking brighter every day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Different worlds collide! So, there's that, and uh... yeah. More coming later! I'm really happy to be uploading these ones honestly because they're all nice and fluffy and the ones I'm _writing_ were kind of really rough, heh. So there's that to look forward to.
> 
> C'mon back next time for what's largely a selection of semi-connected vignettes. Some fluffy stuff, some characterization, some world-building. We're gonna have a montage! Sombra and Symmetra learn to live together: it's not a flawless progression, but it works out plenty fine.


	7. A Time for Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Symmetra needs bed-rest for a week to heal her injuries, but that doesn't mean nothing happens. Sombra has to learn how to care for another person - which is a bit of a trick given that her definition of caring for herself mostly consists of a couple shots of tequila and maybe a burger. A montage of scenes, showing their interactions as Symmetra's injuries slowly improve.

“Stop scratching.”

“But it itches!”

“ _ Chica,  _ you-” Sombra cut off in a sigh.

Symmetra frowned, pulling her hand away from the wrapped wound. “I know I should not. Do you never find your body acting as if of its own will?”

Sombra snickered and shook her head. “Ah, I  _ know _ you’re not talking about the kinda shit  _ I’m _ talking about, but yeah, it happens. Usually when I’m drunk off my ass!”

“That is most decidedly  _ not _ the kind of thing I was talking about,” Symmetra muttered, shaking her head. “I do not make a habit of becoming so impaired.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Sombra chuckled as she tapped her way idly through a firewall.

The conversation ended there, as they often did when one or the other didn’t respond. Symmetra was entirely fine with that - it was the only logical end to a conversation after all. They continued until responses ceased. The only downside was that, laying on her back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling (and trying not to notice the sock stapled there), she was very, very bored.

She had redesigned the room a half-dozen times, but it was optimally formatted for the current situation. For a while, thinking of alternatives had interested her - for instance, how things would need to be changed if they got a puppy. However, it soon seemed to be a futile exercise. There were simply too many possibilities to consider them all, which made archiving  _ any _ of them quite pointless.

It was an eternal problem.

“I am bored,” she huffed lightly, unable to do more given her ribs. “I hurt, and I am bored.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Sombra repeated, continuing to make her way through the company’s defences. So-called defences, at least - they really were disappointing. She sighed with a shrug, leaning back against the couch. “Whatcha wanna do?”

There was a moment of relative silence, broken only by the soft electronic noises of Sombra’s hacking.

“If I knew, I would not be bored.”

Sombra cackled at that, pressing a hand briefly to her forehead. “ _ Chica _ , has anybody ever told you you’re hilarious?”

“No.”

“Well, then they’re idiots.”

“Who, everyone?”

Sombra snickered. “Yup! C’mon, ask me a question or something.”

The Architech’s eyes widened at the statement. It was an abrupt change of course from the entirety of the rest of her existence, while still being something she’d always very much suspected. Despite what all of the other people said, she often was left with little recourse but to think that  _ she _ was not the wrong one, and that  _ they _ all were. 

She didn’t even know how to respond to that, though. Instead, she only reacted to Sombra’s request. “Very well. What do you wish to do?”

“Your ribs are still hurt.”

Symmetra leaned up slightly in the bed, wincing. It was getting toward time for another pill now and the relative lack of numbness caused many problems. At first she’d been able to get up and walk around a little, but now the pain was far greater.

“I don’t understand what that has to do with my-” she cut off with a gasp as she lowered her head back to the pillow with a bright laugh. “Oh! I understand!”

Sombra snickered, eyes flicking briefly away from her screen to the odd woman on the bed.

“Yes, my ribs are still hurt,” Symmetra sighed wistfully. “Although I do appreciate the interest. Thank you.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome or whatever. Go on, ask another question.” Two more firewalls down, at least another three before she got to the good stuff.

“Surely you should ask one, in the name of balance.”

“Fine,” Sombra rolled her eyes. “Uh…”  _ damn, this is actually hard. _ “Favourite, uh… fuck.” She frowned, unable to think of a reasonable way to finish the sentence.  _ Not booze. Can’t say booze. But… booze? _

Symmetra heard a question plenty plainly, though. “Hmm,” she rolled her head slightly to one side on the pillow, “an interesting question. There are so many options, I’ve certainly not explored them all. Do you mean generally or specifically?”

Sombra blinked in confusion that was intense enough that she almost missed a countermeasure and had to tap substantially more frantically for a few seconds. “Uh, I, uh, specifically? Yeah, sure.” 

_ What the fuck is she even talking about? Damn. _ She gritted her teeth and swept her other hand across a screen, tapping at two sets of controls at once for the next moment or two before she dealt with squelching the attempted backtrace and could go back to one-handing it. It was a good thing, too, because she wanted another chip.

For a little while, Symmetra just thought, letting her mind touch on all of the different memories.  _ Hmm. _ “Almost certainly one of the times with Parva. She was quite thankful and quite attentive, and dogged in her determination. Oh - I think I know.”

Sombra’s eyes flicked to her again as she nodded, and the hacker  _ still _ had no idea where she was going with this. Or where she was coming from. At least she wasn’t bored, though. Probably.

“We worked together on a project at one point - an extension for Utopaea, a new public space. She conceptualized and I actualized, and we were recognized for our achievements in a marvellous ceremony. Afterward, she invited me back to her chambers, and I would say that  _ that _ was my favourite instance.”

She sighed wistfully, goosebumps standing up on her arms as she shivered a little. “Whether it was my own delight at the recognition or hers, or both, I do not know - however, I’ve never had that many orgasms in a session.”

Sombra choked on a potato chip and fell off of the couch.

Symmetra frowned a little, in confusion, up at the ceiling.  _ Hmm. I would appear to have missed the mark again. _

“ _ What?” _ Sombra tried desperately to keep up with her hack, but it was a little too much. “Okay, wait - hold onto that thought for like, twenty seconds  _ chica.” _ She brought her other hand to the ready as a determined grin spread across her face, and her fingers flew across the controls as she laid on the floor on her back.

... _ thirteen, fourteen, fifte- _ Symmetra’s thoughts were cut off as Sombra’s hand came down on her shoulder and she looked over. The hacker’s purple eyes were almost glowing with interest. “Now, what were you saying?”

“That wasn’t twenty seconds.”

“I approximated, now c’mon  _ chica _ , you can’t leave me hanging like that!”

Symmetra opened her mouth to explain when a thought occurred to her. This had been mentioned as a bonding activity - teasing, a sort of light form of bullying. 

“...can’t I?’ Symmetra tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.

Sombra just stared in shock, her mouth falling a little open. Then she noticed a bit of a smile dawning on the Architech’s lips. “Are you- wait, are you  _ really  _ teasing me like that right now?”

“Did I do it right?”

She looked so excited that Sombra had to laugh. Hard enough that her knees crumpled. It took her a while to get herself under control and pick herself up off of the floor again. “Yeah, yeah  _ amiga _ , you did it right.” She sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning in with a raised eyebrow and a wide grin. “Now  _ seriously _ though, you gotta explain.”

Symmetra shrugged. “You asked what my favourite fuck was.”

Sombra laughed for five minutes straight at that. Symmetra just looked at the ceiling, but she had a smile on her lips. Sombra had a nice laugh. It was quite pleasant to listen to.

 

\---

 

When it came time for dinner, Symmetra wasn’t doing well enough to stand and cook so Sombra decided to take up the torch. The torch, in this case, consisting of two packs of microwaveable fajitas.

Once she pulled them out and slid it all onto a couple of plates, though, it looked pretty good - nice sizzling strips of meat, some good veggies of some sort, the corn tortillas steaming. She brought it all over balanced on her arms and set it down on the coffee table.

“Ah, ah,” she cautioned as Symmetra tried to sit up in the bed. “Calm the fuck down,  _ chica. _ Lemme help you with that.” She helped the Architech up and let her lean back against the headboard, propping her up with pillows.

“Now,” she slid one of the plates onto Symmetra’s lap. “You want to watch a show with dinner or something?”

Symmetra shrugged slightly. Mostly with her left shoulder - moving the right one disturbed her ribs too much. She was very much looking forward to her pill, but dinner had to come first. “It is up to you. I wouldn’t know what to recommend or request.”

Sombra just shrugged and pulled out a file from a directory on her drive - a series of short cartoons that had started around a century ago and run for a while, but they’d continued to be made in various other forms for decades and decades - including a big reboot when she was a girl and she’d got them all now, old and new. A hundred years of cartoons. She plucked one at random and tossed a little purple hexagon forward where it splayed into a screen as she snuggled up against Symmetra’s less-injured side.

The show started with the characteristic long twanging noise and Sombra was already grinning by the time “Looney Tunes” showed up. She picked up some stuff and dropped it at random into a tortilla before stuffing it into her face. “Oh, it’s a Wile E. Coyote episode! This’ll be great.”

Symmetra watched in some confusion as the show began, unaware of the premise. The title sequence, she devoted to carefully stacking a fajita - while cutlery was nice, she had no need of it and was quite used to finger foods.

The show seemed to revolve around a coyote’s attempts to catch some sort of flightless bird, and as the predator began to set up an incredibly elaborate trap to ensnare its prey, Symmetra found herself grinning. There came the roadrunner, heading right for the trap - she leaned forward a bit from the edge of the headboard in anticipation.

...and it ran right past the trap. Ropes, pulleys, levers, all stayed still as the coyote went out to inspect his work and try to determine the failure, and Symmetra felt pangs inside herself. Had it not been for the repeated assurances of the world, she might have called them ‘sympathy’, but she’d been told often enough that she was incapable. It was simply a bad feeling over failure, that was the only possibility left.

When the roadrunner reappeared in a puff of smoke and beeped, Symmetra jumped almost as much as the coyote - but with far less disastrous consequences. She simply scattered the ingredients on her plate a little and instilled another twang of pain in her ribs, whereas the cartoon carnivore ended up the victim of his own trap.

All due to a seemingly stupid little bird.

As the credits rolled, Sombra glanced over - her  _ chica _ hadn’t said anything the whole time. Now, though, she noticed that Symmetra had that faraway thoughtful look in her eyes, and a faint smile on her lips. “Well?” Sombra prompted. “Whatcha think?”

Rearranging the strips of meat and vegetables on her plate to get them into neat piles again, Symmetra hummed in thought for a moment. “I think I liked it. I…” a frown slowly took presence on her face, “I felt bad for the coyote?”

Her eyes flicked over to Sombra’s almost nervously and she continued quickly. “I was impressed with its engineering skills, that trap should have worked by all rights. Perhaps the bird is more impressive than it first appears?”

Sombra cackled, tossing some strips of chicken into her mouth. “ _ Amiga _ , that is probably simultaneously the best and worst way I’ve ever heard these cartoons described. It’s kinda funny to see what people notice though, you know? Do they think the coyote’s trying too hard, or not hard enough - do they think he should just abandon a futile effort, or do they respect his determination? Says a lot about a person, I think.”

Her features were set with a kind of determination that Symmetra couldn’t parse. She didn’t even  _ know  _ it was determination, but she thought it might be. It was certainly something. Faces had such a complex language and it changed from time to time and place to place - smiles were kind and cruel, tears meant happiness or sadness or anger or a million other things. It was all simply too much.

One thing was certain, though - Symmetra didn’t know what  _ any _ of it said about a person. Sometimes, when she forgot herself (as always seemed to happen, no matter how many times she was metaphorically knocked down by failures in that arena) she would try to extrapolate, try to figure a person out.

“I wouldn’t know,” she dismissed with a shrug, “what any of it says about a person.” There was a brief pause as she prepared another fajita and Sombra glanced over in mild disbelief. “Might we watch another? I’m not finished with my food yet.”

“Yeah, sure - I’m glad you like ‘em,” Sombra chuckled slightly, settling back in further and tossing another one out to play in front of them. She didn’t know what to make of all that, which seemed kind of ironically fitting in a way - that she’d be unable to understand what the fuck her  _ chica _ was talking about, when she in turn talked about not being able to understand what the fuck other people were talking about. Sombra’s lips tugged into a bit of a grimace. She wasn’t a fan of irony - unless it was pointed solidly at other people.  _ Then _ , it was hilarious.

...but they had food and a show, and a plan. She didn’t really care about the rest of it. If there was one thing her life had taught her, it was to grab at whatever you could  _ while _ you could. It might not be there tomorrow.

 

\---

 

“I would like a kiss.”

“Okay, well… just wait a second.”

“...finished.”

“Not a  _ literal _ sec _ - _ ” Sombra huffed a laugh, shaking her head. “Yeah okay, I walked into that one. Wait ten seconds.” Her fingers worked furiously at a screen, erasing traces of her own activity - and Symmetra’s as well. Somebody was tracking her  _ chica _ down, or trying to, and she’d be damned if she let that happen.

_...seven, eight, nine, ten. Hmm. Poor time management skills. _ Symmetra took a slow breath and let it out in a gentle, controlled sigh. It took  _ thirteen  _ seconds for Sombra to be finished - not that Symmetra particularly cared, she just would’ve preferred to be told twenty and then surprised by an early arrival. Although, not  _ nearly _ as much as she would’ve liked to simply be told the correct time.

She hummed lightly as Sombra leaned over her, pressing warm lips to hers. Kissing her was quite different from any of the others Symmetra had kissed - subtle tastes as well as technique, and the simple fact that when Sombra kissed she seemed to do it with her whole body. Her shoulders tensed up and her hips swiveled, she refused to stay in one place. It was delightful, like a little dance for her benefit, and Symmetra laid a hand on her back to gain as much from it as she could.

“Thank you,” Symmetra sighed as they parted. “Though you were late.”

Sombra, though, wasn’t done yet - she lowered herself for another one, deeper than the last, and was rewarded with a mostly-breathless noise that jumped from Symmetra’s chest. Sombra chuckled lightly as her fingers found purchase in smooth hair, pulling the Architech’s head up off of the pillow a bit. She caught Symmetra’s lower lip between her teeth and growled a little bit before releasing her and standing up.

“Consider that interest for my late payment,” she murmured, grinning. Purple eyes swept intensely over the bedridden woman as Sombra’s lips pursed thoughtfully and curled at the corner in a smirk.

One arm ran across her belly to hold her opposite elbow, that hand up and stroking at her chin. “Say,” she murmured with a quirk of her eyebrow, “you can lay down plenty fine, hmm? What say I just…” her hands dropped and tugged up the edges of her skirt, searching for the waist of her leggings.

Symmetra’s eyes were fixed on the hacker’s hands as she started to tug her leggings off, and anticipation sent a shiver rippling through her - a wince and a grunt were the results as the shiver disturbed her ribs and healing bruises, her stitches and wounds, and Symmetra closed her eyes, facing up to the ceiling again and muttering in some language Sombra didn’t understand.

“A good plan,” Symmetra sighed slightly, “which I fully intend to partake of, but clearly too much to ask of my injuries at this moment. Far too many painful convulsions would wrack me, I fear.”

Sombra leaned over the bed on one elbow, tugging Symmetra’s chin toward her with one finger. “You know,” she narrowed her eyes and tapped at the other woman’s dark lips, “ _ one _ of these days, I’m gonna get my payback for you being such a tease.”

Symmetra started to frown at the seemingly offended words, but didn’t have a chance before Sombra lowered herself for another kiss. It was all quite confusing, and Symmetra didn’t particularly appreciate needing to just let go and release herself to it, but it was what it was and she had no other options.

Besides which, Sombra really was quite a good kisser - passionate and forward without being forceful or greedy, and certainly appreciative. There were moments of confusion, yes, but they always seemed to collapse quite swiftly into realizations that she was only being teased or something of the sort anyway. She was starting to get some grasp on the concept, at least.

Sombra’s lips were so nicely firm, anyway. That was far more important than some fleeting moment of worry had been. Symmetra sighed and relaxed back into the bed as she raised a hand to stroke a finger along Sombra’s jawline. There were upsides to being stuck here in bed, certainly.

 

\---

 

“I refuse to eat those fajitas again.”

Sombra paused at the microwave, shooting a frown across the room to the bed. “ _ What? _ Oh, so you’re not hungry today?”

Symmetra sighed. “Could any other food be arranged?”

“...if I said no, would you eat the fajitas?”

She sighed again in the bed. “Of course. I would have no other option.”

“Damn, don’t sound so fuckin’ wrecked about it,  _ chica, _ geeze,” Sombra muttered under her breath as she slid one of the boxes back into the freezer. “Yeah fine, I’ll whip something else up. Uh.” She pulled the fridge open. It looked  _ wrong _ with so much food in it.

It was supposed to be full of booze and soda. Now there was all this lettuce and shit in the way and her booze was warm.

“Okay, but one condition,” Sombra called over her shoulder. “I’m fixing you a drink, too.”

“No alcohol with the pills.”

“Yeah, but it’s  _ lunch _ ,” Sombra protested, “it’s like six hours away from each pill so calm down, it’s totally fine.”

“I am uncertain about that.”

Sombra sighed and swiped a screen into existence, tapping at it. A few seconds later, Hawk-i appeared on the screen, clearly in bed. He spoke immediately. “The next time you’re in here, I’m installing a shock module in your neck.”

“Yeah, nice to see you too, doc,” she rolled her eyes with a grin, “now hey, if my  _ chica _ wants to have a drink between the pills, she can, right?”

He stared blankly for about thirty seconds. “Yes. That cost you fifty bucks.”

“Hey doc, you remember that time you went to Rio and-”

“Fine, ten dollars.”

Sombra snickered. “Yeah yeah, the fifty’s already in your account. Thanks, doc. You’re a pal.” She scattered the screen into pixels and called back over her shoulder. “There, straight from the horse’s mouth! So you’re having a drink. You were talking about how alcohol wasn’t pleasurable or whatever, and that’s some bullshit so I gotta show you something.”

Symmetra sighed. “I found the  _ act _ plenty pleasant. It was the aftereffect and the larger circumstance that was objectionable.”

“Okay, sure,” Sombra shrugged as she started to toss things into a bowl. “You want dressing on your salad?”

“What kind of salad?”

“It’s got lettuce, tomatoes, anchovies, and uh… I mean, you could call ‘em croutons.”

“Essentially a Caesar salad, then?” Symmetra shrugged as she slowly pushed herself upright in bed. “The correct dressing surely explains itself.”

Sombra sighed. “Yeah, well, I’m not like a chef or anything, so.” She dropped the sentence (and a tomato) and just shrugged and turned to go to the bed. She didn’t have any cutlery or anything of the sort - just a large metal bowl full of salad.

Or, rather, “salad”. Symmetra looked at it in confusion when Sombra set the bowl next to her on the bed. The lettuce was shredded nicely, yes, but that was only because it had been purchased that way. What Sombra had called ‘croutons’ turned out to be, in fact, somewhat stale and broken Cheetos. The tomatoes were whole.

“This is one of your jokes, isn’t it?” Symmetra murmured as she picked up a tomato. It had been impaled with a Cheeto.

“ _ No _ ,” Sombra corrected, grabbing a handful of salad and munching it down quickly, “this is one of my  _ meals. _ You’re the one who didn’t want fajitas.”

“A mistake I will not soon repeat,” Symmetra murmured with a grin.

Sombra snickered and turned to go get a pair of glasses and a bottle. She dropped a pair of ice cubes into each glass. When she got back to the bed, Symmetra was eating - albeit, slowly, and with confusion clear across her face.

“Isn’t it a tasty salad?”

“I am not certain I would call it a salad. In fact, I am certain of the alternative.”

“...but isn’t it tasty?”

Symmetra sighed. “Yes. You continue to hold true to your streak of providing things that turn out to be less awful and objectionable than originally suspected.”

Sombra giggled as she slid over on the bed next to Symmetra. “Aw, that’s like a huge compliment! Thanks,  _ chica -  _ now,” she slowly twisted the cork out of the bottle, “try some of this…”

Cautiously, she poured a darkish golden-brown liquid out into the tumblers - just a little bit of it, coating the ice cubes and filling just the bottom of the glass. “Sip it. Don’t drink fast, no mouthfuls - start out with just like… a drop, okay? Tiny. Swirl it around your mouth a little.” She held out one glass with a raised eyebrow.

Symmetra, frowning, took it.  _ So, this is a different format, then. Not to be imbibed rapidly. Very well. _ She tipped the glass back, inhaling slightly as the chilled liquid brushed up against her lips and she sucked in the tiniest sip she could.

It was smokey and sharp, very cold, and flavours washed over her tongue in a tumult which she couldn’t follow at first and didn’t expect in the slightest. She made a little noise as her brow furrowed, reflexively wanting to either swallow the liquid or spit it out, but refraining from either and swirling it around in her mouth again.

The burn faded and left deep, earthy tones - a surprising depth of flavour that evolved as it warmed. When she eventually got around to swallowing the sip, it was with a smile on her lips and a hum.

Sombra took a heavier mouthful of the scotch, sighing through her nose as she swallowed it down. “So? Whatcha think,  _ amiga?” _

“I think…” Symmetra stared almost in awe at the liquid as she swirled it around in the glass. “Perhaps there  _ is _ a place in my life for alcohol.” She took a larger sip this time, knowing what to expect, and closed her eyes to focus on it.

Sombra just watched her with an idle grin. It was kind of fun to watch her do stuff, even just stupid little stuff. Weird, but good - just like she was. The hacker tossed another episode of Looney Tunes forward to play as she settled in with a grin, a bowl of salad, a glass of scotch, and a weird-ass  _ amiga. _ Life just kept getting better.

 

\---

 

“I don’t know if you should be up and about,  _ chica,” _ Sombra frowned a little.

“It’s been almost a week,” Symmetra sighed as she pulled out a pill to take. It was hard to tell morning from evening or noon from night down here - no windows and no clocks save for the ones Sombra could pull up at will. Luckily, Symmetra’s own module wired into her ocular implant would tell her the time. 

The amount of time she could move around after each pill had increased steadily with every day, and now - despite not having had one yet today - she could easily stand and walk. Carefully, but mostly painlessly. “My injuries cause me far less pain. I am almost to the point of requiring a change of dressings. As well as which, I-”

“It’s cool,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra chuckled, shaking her head. “I didn’t really  _ care _ or anything - I’d get a little crazy stuck in bed like that too. Trust me, I know I do - Hawk-i still won’t let me forget it.”

“Your Achilles?” Symmetra smirked and Sombra laughed, tapping the side of her nose with a grin and a wink.

“Eh, it’s kinda convenient anyway - I got something for you to do.”

_ “Please  _ tell me it is cleaning this… symphony in chaos.” Symmetra’s eyes flicked nervously around as she almost cringed away from the room. Being in bed certainly had its upsides - for instance, not  _ seeing _ the majority of this.

Sombra snickered. “Ah, you’re funny,  _ chica.”  _ Symmetra had heard that enough times now to know it usually meant ‘no’. “I gotta go out for a bit - you’re gonna keep watch and give me a hand, alright?”

“I thought you didn’t want me walking around?”

“I don’t. That’s why you’re staying here - c’mon,  _ amiga, _ give a girl some credit. I’ll hook you up with cameras and a comm link; you’re good with computers, right?”

Symmetra chuckled slightly, darkly, to herself.  _ Better than with people, surely.  _ “Yes, quite proficient.”

“Good,” Sombra nodded, a little bit less nervous about it. “Because if you break any of mine, I’m gonna be mad. No more cartoons and no kisses either, so be careful.”

Symmetra sighed with a pout. “Such harsh punishment - I will be sure to avoid the eventuality.”

With a snicker, Sombra hopped up from the couch and gestured the Architech over. “C’mon, here, I gotta show you my inner sanctum.”

Symmetra’s eyebrows raised a little at that particular phrasing, but she followed without protest or delay as Sombra led the way to a steel door with a plethora of locks. She waved a hand, purple trails glowing from her claws, and the door swung open.

As she stepped over the threshold, Symmetra’s eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. In here, there were no scattered clothes or hanging fabrics - wires ran in thick bundles down the walls, bound tightly together and joining, and joining, tiny cables linking up like creeks until they became massive raging rivers of wires. They reminded Symmetra of the patterns on Sombra’s back and arms, and up into her scalp.

Everything converged on one central point -  _ precisely _ central; a chair, the only piece of furniture in the room. Arrayed on the ceiling above it were a series of holo-projectors, for screens no doubt. Everything was spotless, there was not a piece of detritus or unnecessary equipment.

A pleasant little shiver ran through Symmetra’s shoulders and down her spine as she pulled the door shut behind them and closed out the chaos of the other room. “I would like to spend more time here.”

Sombra shot her an indecipherable glance. “Uh… maybe not so much,  _ amiga _ , but thanks for the appreciation or whatever.”

Symmetra nodded, not letting the disappointment show on her face - at least she knew it was here. That was good enough.

“Now, you’re not gonna be able to get as much out of all this as me.” The hacker laid a hand across her chest with a smile. “ _ Nobody _ gets as much out of it as Sombra - but, you’ll be able to do plenty. Sit your cute ass down in that little chair there,  _ amiga _ .”

Symmetra did, spinning the chair in a slow circle. It was fixed to the ground but spun smoothly, and she smiled a little. Sombra snapped her fingers and the lights went out, screens popping into existence all around the swivel chair.

“Now, over here, you’ve got camera feeds.” As she spoke she waved her hand and highlighted the screen in question. “This one shows you cameras  _ here _ , and those two will show you where I’m at. This one’s the floorplan, obviously, and it’ll show positions of me and the guards too.”

“Guards? What are you-”

“Does it matter,  _ amiga? _ I gotta get a thing. Trust me, you’re gonna be  _ real _ happy with me, okay? You trust me?”

Symmetra nodded, although she wasn’t sure the answer was really necessarily a total yes. There were almost certainly things that she wouldn’t trust Sombra with, although she couldn’t think of any quickly. It felt uncomfortable, but what didn’t? She just tried to ignore it.

“Good. Now, I’ll be able to see most of this shit too, but a second pair of eyes never hurts. I’ve coded out a few things in advance - hit this control here if turrets pop up, that one’s for model six and below robotic drones, over here’s for model seven or above. If they’re nines, I gotta deal with them on my own. Humans and omnics I’ve gotta get on the ground, but you do have one thing for that. Twist this control until these dots line up to zero in on their comm frequency, then pop this to flood them with static - when I tell you to, got it? Or if one of ‘em’s gonna shoot me or something. Sound good?”

Symmetra’s eyes followed the quick indications easily, the simple rules and instruction smoothly categorized by her mind. “Of course.”

“Good,” Sombra murmured appreciatively with a grin. If this worked out well, it’d make things a lot easier - which, of course, just meant that she could go after harder targets. “Uh, big red one there’s in case of a missile strike, but hopefully that doesn’t happen anyway. If I say ‘beam me up’, I want you to throw this on the ground, got it?”

Sombra handed over a metal module about the size of an orange, and Symmetra turned it over curiously in her hands. “Long story short is that’s my ‘oh shit’ button. Anyway - you’ll be able to hear me and see me here, and I’ll be able to hear you too. That screen’ll show my body cam and that one’s my eyes. Any questions?”

Symmetra shook her head, then reconsidered. “Is there time for food first?”

“Yeah, of course - I’m not robbing a place on an empty stomach! What’re you, crazy?” Sombra snickered. “C’mon, let’s go eat and then we’ll get you all settled. I think this is gonna be fun,  _ chica! _ ”

Symmetra hummed, smiling a little. “I agree.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked that chapter quite a lot. It was fun to get some more characterization in there in cool ways - plus, I mean, they're just so feakin' cute. Not gonna lie, I made myself snicker a bunch of times in this chapter, and grin a whole bunch more than that. I hope you folks liked it too!
> 
> Next time, Sombra gets up to no good - or at least, she steals some stuff. Symmetra gives a hand from the base. Action! Adventure! Romance? Find out in a few days!


	8. On the Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sombra needs to steal something, and Symmetra's gonna give her a hand - she doesn't know what it is being stolen, of course, but she's in for a big surprise there. First though, there's a whole heist to be carried out, from camouflage to timing entrances, hacking elevators to shooting guards. It's all in a day's work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Some guards die. Not super graphically or anything, but they get shot - I don't know that it's really worth warning but hey, I figured I might as well, right?

Sombra stroked at her trusty machine pistol with a grin fixed firmly on her lips. She was happy to get out of there again - sure, it was nice to hang around and stuff like that, but she wanted to get her blood pumping properly.

It had nothing to do with her  _ chica’s _ injuries and resultant inabilities, she was sure, but she felt so damn antsy, and in a bunch of ways, too. Popping off on her own for twenty minutes wasn’t the same as letting somebody else go to town - but there’d be time for that later.

Still, it was more than that. More than just the kind of pent-up frustration that a quick wank couldn’t fix - she felt generally just… off. Odd. Little twitches in her gut, little shifting wriggles up her spine. They didn’t exactly improve when she stepped out the door. Actually, they’d gotten worse - but she had a job to do, and the joy of that was quickly becoming a good distraction.

The bus pulled to a stop and Sombra flipped a coin to the driver as a tip. His optisensors glowed briefly purple as tendrils lanced out from her fingers and wiped all data related to her - he’d never remember who left the coin.

With a chuckle, Sombra shook her head. The world was so easy as long as you played it right - see what you want, and then get it. So many others had been doing it for all of history, corporations and governments - Sombra was plenty happy to shoot a few holes in their pockets and let the contents scatter out along the roads for the people to pick up.

Along with plenty falling into her  _ own _ pockets, of course. Robin Hood was cute, but Sombra wasn’t gonna let herself live in no woods because she gave all her money to peasants.

Still, the bus driver  _ would _ notice that that coin was a rare misprint worth over a thousand bucks. As long as he paid attention, that was - if he didn’t, it was no skin off of Sombra’s nose.  _ Somebody _ would figure it out sooner or later, some clerk taking it in exchange for a burger or something, and whoever was smart enough to notice, well, they’d be a grand richer.

Sombra walked easily along the streets, waving cheerily to people. Mostly they didn’t notice. A few recognized her and waved back in panic or tried to bow, or some other shit to kiss up to her.

One tiny kid shouted, “Oooh, mommy, lookit that purple hair!” Sombra knelt down for a moment with a giggle and let the kid tug at her hair for a few seconds. She didn’t want to squeeze one out or anything, but kids could be kinda cute - when they weren’t crying and screaming and shitting everywhere.  _ Kinda like normal people then, heh. _

“You with me,  _ amiga?” _ Sombra murmured as she stood up and carried on along her way.

“That was a cute child. I like them when they’re not screaming or vomiting.”

Sombra laughed. “I was just thinking that,  _ chica! _ Ah, that’s great - everything looks pretty normal to me from here. Any news on your end?”

Symmetra, back at the base (so to speak) leaned forward and inspected screens more closely. “I see only what appears to be normal movement and activity.”

“Cool,” Sombra grinned and tossed a Translocator beacon high onto a rooftop. “Time to get busy…”

With a wave of her hands, a flurry of purple pixels surrounded her and she disappeared entirely. She began to sprint, gun securely in her holster, pumping her arms with her palms flat. It just felt  _ good _ to run like nobody was watching.

Being invisible helped, too.

The guards at the front gate never even noticed as she vaulted the barrier. The front area of the complex was crisscrossed with railings where large holes were cut in the ground, revealing sunken pits and tunnels underneath. Sombra jumped up onto one of those railings, leaping nimbly across the gaps.  _ Parkour! _ She suppressed the urge to snicker.

The building itself was wide and a few stories tall - her quarry was on the fourth basement level down, but there was only one elevator which ran down there and Sombra couldn’t exactly go through the front door.  _ Besides, where’s the fun in that? _

As she leapt up and grabbed onto a ledge, using her momentum to propel her legs up and over, she devoted a moment’s attention to the little indicators at the corners of her vision. One eye was overtaken briefly by a camera showing this building’s roof as she spun around and jumped again, catching on a pipe and swinging - the guards were right where she wanted them.

She held onto the ledge at the roof for a moment. She couldn’t see herself on the camera, but she knew where she was - and she could  _ hear _ the guard just above her. It was so damn tempting to just reach up and snatch his ankles out from under him, sending him sailing off of the roof, but she didn’t want to raise any alarms.

The guard moved away. Sombra pulled herself up and began to sprint for a door.

Symmetra watched it all with intense curiosity - she could not see the hacker on any of the cameras, either, but several of the screens still informed her about what was happening. One showed the world through Sombra’s eyes, another showed a small camera located on her chest and another on her back. She watched the world whip past, dizzyingly. “Quite impressive,” she murmured, leaning forward in her chair.

Sombra smirked as she swept a purple-clawed hand over the door’s lock and it popped open.  _ Yeah, I know it! _ She just nodded obviously - the eye-cams would make it clear. Through the door, she hopped off of the side of the catwalk there and dropped from the railing. She landed almost soundlessly on top of the elevator and crouched.

_ C’mon now, _ she stroked a metal claw gently along the elevator’s roof, purple sparkles trailing in its wake and lighting up her sharp grin in the darkness,  _ let’s get moving, babe. You know you wanna go down for me… _

The elevator started to descend as she sent it the commands.

“Button three,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra whispered in the darkness and Symmetra hit the indicated control. The camera feed of the elevator shimmered and the empty interior was replaced with an image of three people. A man in a military uniform - a general - a man in a suit with a briefcase, and a woman dressed head-to-toe in lycra and plates of armour, with a high-powered assault rifle in hand.

There were security personnel who held the doors at the bottom of the shaft - they could only be opened manually, and only from the other side. They’d never open up for an  _ empty _ elevator, but for a general, his aide, and a bodyguard? Definitely.

Sombra grinned even wider as she slipped the hatch open, suppressing the alarm the elevator tried to send out. The thing was smart, but Sombra was  _ so _ much smarter and this was far from her first rodeo. “Number four now,  _ amiga.” _

When it reached the bottom of the shaft, the five security guards were notified and glanced at the camera. The general cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. The guards pulled the doors open, and had just a moment of confusion as they looked into the empty space inside the elevator.

“ _ Hola, _ ” they spun as the warm voice came from behind them, but they never had time to draw their weapons - Sombra swung a roundhouse kick at one’s head, elbowed another in the face, and then opened up her machine pistol and emptied a whole clip into the five of them.

Symmetra’s lip curled back a little in distaste. “Such a senseless waste of life.”

“Yeah, well, they woulda wasted mine if I hadn’t,  _ chica _ , and I couldn’t let ‘em get the alarm out. You hit button four, right?”

“Yes,” she sighed, glancing at the screen. A camera showed the five dead guards milling idly at their stations - looped footage from earlier. “Could you not have simply incapacitated them?”

“Theoretically, sure,” Sombra shrugged as she cloaked herself again and began to move through the halls. “Not like I’ve got a tranquilizer though. You know that if you knock somebody out by kicking them in the head they’re pretty much dead anyway, right?”

Symmetra just hummed. “I’m glad you were not hurt.”

Sombra snorted. “Yeah, me too  _ chica. _ ” Her eyes flicked at the doors as she passed, searching for the one she needed. “I’m not gonna lose any sleep over these guys.”

“You only sleep for a few hours anyway,” Symmetra murmured with a frown.  _ Have you ever considered why? _

“Yeah, exactly,” Sombra nodded as she found the door. “Now, you’re ready on all those buttons, right - drones, bots, everything? You wanna go over it one more time?”

“I recall their functions.”

“Okay, because I’m just saying, once I open this door there’s not gonna be time to-”

“I said, I recall them.”

Sombra snickered, grinning and shrugging. “A’ight  _ amiga. _ Let’s get this show on the road.” She held up a hand, wiggling her fingers a bit - sure, there was nobody around to see her, but there was still a  _ lot _ to be said for theatrics. She juggled a little pixel between her fingers and then smacked her hand against the door, shoving the chunk of code into the electronic lock. It popped open, and the alarms started going off.

If they’d gone off a second earlier, this door would’ve been locked irrevocably - a physical absolute failsafe. Sure, she would’ve been able to cut her way through,  _ eventually _ , if she had a week and power tools. However she knew her shit and the alarm  _ hadn’t _ gone off a second earlier, and she walked through the door easily. She felt almost dirty getting physical files, even just  _ handling _ them, but for some reason some things just weren’t digital yet. In fairness, it kind of made sense with this bit.

As she picked up the thin folio, Sombra’s eyes caught on the stamp across the top and her grin widened. Property of the Vishkar Corporation, it said, Confidential Class One. She snickered as she undid the front of her jacket and slipped the folder in.  _ Chica, you’re gonna love me for this one. _

She hadn’t actually  _ told _ Symmetra what she was here to steal - just on the off-chance that it ended up not being here. There were no official trails to follow, nobody had hardly even  _ known  _ about this project back when Vishkar still existed. Still, she’d managed to track it down.

_ Found the doors, got the keys, got the codes. _ She giggled as she skipped back toward the hallway. “Okay, one down - one more stop before-”

“There are numerous defences heading for your location.” Symmetra tapped at one of the controls with a frown and a dozen hovering drones fell to the floor, incapacitated. She’d been paying too much attention to the other screens to notice what Sombra had picked up. “The drones have been dealt with. Humans and omnics, with a few robotic defences as well.”

“Class Nine?”

“Naturally,” Symmetra confirmed, “or else I would already have deployed measures and rendered them inoperable.”

Sombra snickered as she set her back to the door, bringing up the camera feed to check on the guards’ progress. “Damn, we should do this shit more often! It’s fun! You should get their frequency naile-”

“I already have it,” Symmetra nodded with a smirk, her fingers shifting the control slightly. She wasn’t certain  _ how _ precisely the two marks needed to be aligned - presumably not to the micrometre, given the sensitivity of the control, but she would get as close as she could. Another finger hovered over the activation control.

Sombra had to admit, this was a lot easier as a two-person job. She could’ve done it alone, but it would’ve taken a lot longer and the risks would’ve been really high. Plus, it was kinda fun to get up to something new with her  _ chica. _

“Alrighty, I’ll tell you when,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra murmured as the guards started to come around the corner and then rushed into the room she’d just been in. “Hit button twelve when I camo, alright?”

“Understood.” Symmetra watched the screens as Sombra pushed off of the wall and started to sprint across the hallway. Halfway there she started to disappeared from view and Symmetra tapped at a floating control.

There was confusion amongst the guards as the lights turned off, and a moment as they switched over to other sight-modes, either through goggles or cameras, but none of them would see Sombra anyway. She ran past them all down the hallway, counting doors, and then found the one she wanted - the security office itself. The door opened as another pair of guards moved to join the others.

Of course, they never got a chance. As the building’s automatic systems countered the hack and the lights flicked on again, Sombra leapt - she wrapped an arm around one guard’s neck and kicked off of the wall, shoving him over and propelling his helmet to the ground with all the force she could manage before lashing out with a foot and hitting the other guard in the ankles.

As he stumbled backward into the security office, she kneed him in the stomach and jumped over his back as he doubled over, slamming the door on his head. He collapsed to the ground as she engaged her camo again.

The guards sitting there in the security room popped to their feet, pulling out guns and firing in the general direction of the door. For a few seconds there was a flurry of bullets before they reloaded and held their fire, breathing heavily. They couldn’t  _ see _ anything, but they knew that  _ something _ had knocked out their two compatriots in the first place. Something had slammed the door shut on one of their heads. Something had-

“Behind you,” Sombra murmured with a grin. She kicked one guard in the head, standing on the security desk, and shot the other one. The first fell back to the ground with a shout and she shot him as well before plopping down into a chair with a grin. “Now!” She chuckled, purple arcs flashing out from her fingertips as her hands danced. “Let’s just see about…”

It only took about ten seconds. As the other guards made it back to the security room and kicked the door open, they had just enough time to see her wave. “ _ Adios!” _ She waved her hands and disappeared in a cloud of tearing pixels as the guards crumpled to the ground, shouting and clutching at their ears - Symmetra had deployed the interference generator when they opened the door.

Sombra popped out on the rooftop where she’d tossed the Translocator earlier with a chuckle, reaching into a pocket to pull out a chocolate bar and tearing it open. “Ah, that was fun. Wasn’t it fun,  _ amiga?” _

Symmetra shrugged with a smile. “It was an interesting puzzle, certainly. It was impressive to see you in action.”

With a snort, Sombra hopped off of the roof to a fire escape. “That is a good point right there,  _ chica. _ You did a good job, too. Thanks.”

“Of course,” she nodded with a grin as her eyes flicked toward the steel door that separated her from the rest of Sombra’s underground home. “Now… I think I will occupy myself with cleaning until you return.”

“Hey, wait, aren’t you curious about what we just stole?”

Symmetra paused, tipping her head. “Not particularly. Should I be?”

Sombra sat down on a bench at a bus stop with a wide grin. “Depends. Any chance you ever heard of a Project Moksha while you were at Vishkar?”

Her grin only widened at the silence which followed, more and more as the seconds ticked on.

“I’m gonna take that as a yes, eh  _ amiga?” _

“It could not possibly be completed,” Symmetra shook her head, dry-mouthed, voice soft. “It could not, not without Vishkar.”

“Joke’s on you,  _ amiga, _ ” one of Sombra’s shoulders rolled in a shrug - not that Symmetra could see it. “They got it finished before they were taken down. Or at least, mostly - they never started it up, but today? We got the codes.”

“No.”

“Yup!”

Symmetra couldn’t respond to that. She felt as if she could barely breathe, barely  _ see _ for the thoughts and feelings that coursed through her. Vishkar was dead. Vishkar was  _ dead _ , even if the Vision was not, but now here was somebody telling her that Moksha had been completed?

“It is impossible.”

Sombra’s eyes danced, her voice dropping to a smooth murmur. “Oh,  _ chica _ , you’re  _ so _ very wrong. I’ve  _ seen  _ it. I touched the gates of heaven, and now? We can get in. I’ll be back in a couple hours, gotta make one stop first - get ready to say thank you,  _ chica. _ ”

“Thank you,” Symmetra whispered, barely even processing the words coming into her ears.

The world faded away as she fixated on the thought, on the possibility - on the hopeless pipe dream that she’d just been presented with. The idea that anyone outside of the Vishkar Corporation had ever even  _ known _ about the Project was laughable.

Yet Sombra knew.

The concept that anyone outside of of the Vishkar Corporation could possibly  _ find _ the grounds, when even those within had not known where it was planned. Symmetra herself had only ever heard about it in hushed whispers with a hundred different locations suggested: buried beneath the Himalayas, submerged at the bottom of the Bay of Bengal, floating amongst the clouds. Nobody could say where the Project was to be constructed.

Yet Sombra knew.

No person, at Vishkar or before or since, had ever provided Symmetra with all of this. With support, with guidance, with food and shows, new experiences and kisses and the promises of more. Not to mention the keys to… everything she had ever wanted. 

Yet Sombra did.

Everything she had ever worked for - Moksha had been the defining dream of Vishkar and every Architech there. Everything they did was working toward it. Every moment of every day since she’d been adopted into the corporation had been dedicated, single-mindedly, to that Vision - and ever since she had dreamed of her own small version of it, building up slice by slice as Utopaea had been.

Yet…

Symmetra shivered. Her brain was beginning to feel stuffed, hot, as her thoughts whirled. She needed to do something to calm down a little - perhaps the information was not even true, or not useful; she couldn’t let herself hang hopes on this in order to have them collapse again. It would be simply too much.

“I will clean,” she muttered to herself, clearing her throat and pushing herself out of the chair. “I have a few hours. I will clean.”

_ Then? Then… I will rebuild the world. _

She opened the door to the rest of the underground bunker that Sombra (and more recently, she too) called home. There, she saw it all - the whole of this war-torn and blasted world, condensed in a chaotic mess of dirty clothes and empty cans and candy wrappers.

It didn’t fill her with the same revulsion as normal, because it was coming to an end.

It was time to clean. Time to fix it all.

With a happy sigh, Symmetra stepped out into the room and started about her work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sombra got to have some fun! I enjoyed writing this, it was pretty fun; less cutesy than the last couple of chapters, definitely, but I still liked it.
> 
> On a side note, I think it's interesting to see differences in demographics demonstrated by various figures about fics. For instance, I have three right now - this one, a longer Overwatch one that's less specifically based on a small character set, and a spin-off one-shot of that story which is 100% Pharmercy with some smut - but it's interesting to me to see different things about them. For instance, the Pharmercy one has about half as many words and I only uploaded it three days ago, but it already has more than half as many hits as this story does. However, only a third as many kudos and almost no comments. My other story, Both Sides Now, is about twice as long as this one and has been updating for a lot longer - it has three times as many hits as this story, twice as many words, basically the same number of bookmarks but only about 90% as many kudos and about 25% more comments.
> 
> I don't know if any of that is actually indicative of anything, but I do think it's interesting to note. :)
> 
>  
> 
> Come back next chapter when things get so, so, so so much worse. I'm sorry already. I promise they'll get better, just trust me.


	9. We'll Never Have Paris.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sombra's succeeded in stealing the last puzzle piece to Project Moksha, a Vishkar development that was meant to save the world - or at least, some of it. Symmetra was awed to find it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Symmetra has a pretty big and traumatic episode in this chapter, so be on guard as required. Also be forewarned that there are some brief mentions of suicidal ideation. Somewhat callous disregard of death. It's a rough and painful, angsty chapter. Sorry, folks, but it will get better again.

As she made her leisurely way toward home, Sombra whistled a song from a movie that was about a hundred years old, but it was just so damn  _ iconic _ and she couldn’t get it out of her head. Most of the people she walked past didn’t recognize it, but she didn’t give a shit.

_...cause I’ve got a golden ticket! I’ve got a golden ticket! I’ve got a golden twinkle in my eye! Heh, or a purple one, whatever. _

Chuckling softly to herself, she stepped right through the holographic wall, skipped down the long sloped entryway and slid down the railing that ran along the stairs. Although, as she hopped off at the bottom, her grin did start to drop away pretty quickly as she noticed the state of her place.

“ _ Amiga?” _ Sombra glanced around in confusion, a heavy frown crossing her face.  _ Damn. Chica wasn’t messing around. _

The whole place looked different. Her eyes flicked first to Oso, but he was still there and untouched.  _ Good. _ He seemed to be alone in that, though - the floor was cleared of trash and also clothes, which confused her.

_ Where the fuck am I supposed to get my clothes from? She just want me walking around naked all the time? _

With a snicker, Sombra shut the door behind her.  _ Yeah, she probably does. _ She did notice her clothing stacked at the far side of the room, though - on top of a dresser that she used primarily for excess candy storage.

The floors had even been scrubbed or something - there were several spots where Sombra knew there should be stains that were now missing. Her eyes drifted to the ceiling. “Hey! Where’s my sock? Damn,  _ chica, _ that was like a calling card - I mean, okay, yeah, I didn’t  _ tell _ you not to touch it, but still…”

Symmetra was nowhere to be seen, but her effects were evident everywhere that Sombra looked. It still looked like her place, yeah - pretty much - but just insanely different. It was almost like somebody had painted their own version of her place, but cleaner, like nobody lived in it. Like if somebody had wanted to do up her place for a home design magazine or some shit like that.

“Not bad, actually,” she called out with a shrug, dropping a bottle of tequila onto the bed and a new shirt onto the floor. She’d swung by the grocery store as well on the way home. “But hey, if you can do this shit then you can  _ definitely _ handle a few - how’d you phrase it again?” Sombra’s grin sharpened as her eyes gleamed. “Convulsions, wracking you? Just saying, your ribs are  _ clearly  _ doing better…”

Symmetra still wasn’t there. Sombra frowned, a cold weight settling into her gut. Nobody could have made it in here without her knowing.  _ Nobody. _ Not even them.

Could they?

Sombra pulled out her machine pistol, crouching slightly and swirling her camo on. She ran through the place, looking everywhere - the bathroom, behind the furniture, in every corner and nook and cranny. They were all oddly clean and all devoid of her  _ chica _ , as well as having no other clues about what had happened.

_ Not here. Not anywhere? Damnit. _ Sombra gritted her teeth as she glared around. Her eyes settled on one other thing out of place.

The door was open.

Not the front door - the door into her computer room, open just a crack. Slowly and with mounting dread, Sombra approached it. Safety off, finger on the trigger, camo on. She hesitated at the door and stood off to one side, pushing it open with a foot.

There weren’t any gunshots or explosions. That was good at least.

Sombra spun around the corner and pointed her gun into the small-ish room, but there weren’t any hostiles in there - just Symmetra, crouched in the corner with her knees pulled up to her chest.

_ “Chica?” _ Sombra dropped her camo with a frown and stepped forward. “What’s u-”

“Don’t!” Symmetra cried, her eyes flashing up in fear. Sombra froze, shoving her gun back into its holster with a frown and holding up her hands flat. 

“Hey, no, it’s not like that, it-” Sombra cut off in confusion. Symmetra’s eyes were red, her cheeks wet with tears; she clutched her knees tighter to her chest and continued to cry as she rubbed a finger along her thumb, back and forth and back and forth.

Sombra knew she did that when things were going wrong. When she was scared or nervous or something like that. Her frown deepened as she started to step forward again. “What happened,  _ amiga?  _ What-”

“Don’t,” the Architech choked out, “don’t call me that. Don’t. I- I…” she coughed and whined, her dark gold and hurt-looking eyes flicking to the floating holodisplays. Sombra’s eyes followed and then returned.

Symmetra looked afraid. Terrified, actually. Sombra stopped frowning as a possibility occurred to her, a flat expression overtaking her face as the coldness in her gut started to spread. “ _ Chica.  _ Look, it-”

“No,  _ you _ look!” Symmetra shouted, squeezing more tears from her eyes. “That-that’s what you do, isn’t it? Look and- and watch and  _ stalk? _ How-” her voice choked off as she wiped at her cheeks almost in panic. “How long were you following me?”

Purple eyes shot over toward the displays. Sombra couldn’t read them from this far away, but she knew what they’d be showing. That nice little tracker program, the one that had found the Architech. The girl. The key.

She stood silent for a moment, looking flatly back at Symmetra’s eyes. She didn’t blink. “About a year.”

Symmetra recoiled as if she’d been struck, her eyebrows pinching together and mouth dropping open in a gasp. “A- a  _ year?” _

“ _ Yes,”  _ Sombra snapped in a hiss, “a year,  _ chica. _ I found out about you and I tracked you the fuck down, all over the damn globe, for a year.”

“Why?”

Sombra glanced at that prosthetic arm. Perhaps the last hard-light generator in existence -  _ chica _ had said it herself. That was why she’d  _ found _ her at least.

Symmetra noticed the look and pulled her arm in closer, trying to hide it behind her knees. She wanted to steal it - Sombra wanted to steal the arm, to steal Moksha, to steal  _her,_ everything. She wanted to pry the fillings from Vishkar's corpse. She was a liar and a thief.

Sombra’s somewhat hard gaze returned to meet Symmetra’s. “How’d you find out?”

“Contrary to popular belief, I am  _ not _ a fool,” the Architech spat back angrily, turning to look away and stare fixatedly at the ground instead. “I was looking for cartoons after I finished cleaning. I wanted to see the coyote again, I- I was looking through the recently-run programs.”

Sombra sighed, rubbing at her forehead as she muttered and then ran that hand through her hair. “Alright, serves me right for not covering my tracks well. Listen,  _ chica,  _ it really doesn’t matter, okay? It’s not like that, just lemme explai-”

“Doesn’t  _ matter?” _ Symmetra stared back in pain. Her whole life, people had done one of two things: not wanted her, or wanted her only for what she could gain  _ them. _ She had only ever been a means, never an end. Sanjay had wanted her skills. Ranjit had wanted her to dance.

Sombra wanted her arm. Wanted her knowledge of Vishkar, wanted her to pave the way to Moksha.

None of the rest of it was real. The cartoons, the stories, the laughter; they were all false, all the lies that the world told to get what it wanted out of her. She’d never been able to see it before it was too late, had only ever realized after the fact, and every time it just made her feel stupider and stupider. She hated it. All of it. It was all too much.

“How- how could-” Symmetra couldn’t speak, she couldn’t think about it - it was too much. The crawling feeling that made her want to peel her skin off, that horrid strained _noise_ in her brain, the hot itching pain under her scalp and her wrists.

She raised her flesh hand to her mouth, biting at the web of skin between her thumb and forefinger - harshly, enough to bring a fresh wave of tears to her eyes. A desperate bid to suppress the rising fraying terror within her, but Sombra stepped back a little, frowning at the odd display, and that was the last straw for Symmetra. 

Everybody always did that. Looked at her like she was broken. She hated it.

“Get out GET OUT!” she shrieked, clutching her knees tightly to her chest. “Leave me alone! Leave me  _ ALONE!” _ Words failed her and she fell into formless shouts and screams instead. Sombra swiftly fled the room and slammed the door shut behind her.

None of it helped, none of it - everything was too much, it always was sooner or later, and Symmetra lost control entirely. She flailed wildly, punching the floor - she screamed and cried and slammed her head against the wall, she scraped at the skin of her wrist with metal fingers that were thankfully too dull to rip anything away, she lost every speck of self-control, no thought going into any of it. There was no room left in her mind for thoughts, it was all sharp and jagged like a shattered mirror, just painful shards that showed some twisted reflection of how the world was, and it hurt, and it hurt, and it hurt.

_ Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. _

 

\---

 

Sombra shivered as she heard the screams drift dully through the door. Slowly, tears started to slide down her cheeks as she just sat there, back to the metal, chin resting on her knees.

Why did she need to get so pissed off? It  _ didn’t _ matter, and if she’d just listened for another ten seconds Sombra could’ve explained it. Explained how she never  _ lied _ , she just didn’t  _ tell -  _ explained how it didn’t matter because she wasn’t following her  _ anymore _ , and it wasn’t like Symmetra couldn’t leave anyway. She just didn’t  _ want _ to leave.

Explained that it wasn’t about the arm anymore. Not  _ just _ about that, at least - sure, it had been the first thing, but it wasn’t  _ every _ thing.

It didn’t make sense. Symmetra’s anger didn’t make sense and neither did the heavy, greasy feeling of guilt in Sombra’s gut. Or the tears dripping down her cheeks. Symmetra  _ shouldn’t _ have been upset, so why did Sombra feel bad about it?  _ So _ bad about it?

She could’ve explained. Pointed out that there was more to it now than just getting access to Vishkar’s ultimate development - that, despite all of her weirdness and shit, Sombra wanted Symmetra to be there too. Could’ve mentioned that she was looking forward to how Symmetra’s stupid puppy-eyes would light up when she finally saw the gates. How much she wanted to not need to tiptoe around each other because of injuries.

How she’d never showed anybody else the damn bear.

Sombra shoved herself angrily away from the door, teeth grinding, and practically sprinted across the room. She was back ten seconds later, squishing Oso to her chest hard enough that it almost hurt.

Why did it hurt? Why did the screams hurt so bad? Every one that came through the door, like a shard of glass right into her guts, like a knife in her spine, like an icepick in her head or a nail hammered into her heart. Sombra had heard lots of crying before. She’d even caused plenty, and yeah, sometimes she felt a little bad.

Nothing like this, though. Like she was being torn in half with every shout and sob that drifted through the inches of steel.

Eventually, the  _ chica _ on the other side of the door got quiet.  _ Too tired of crying and went to sleep, maybe,  _ Sombra thought distantly.

She wouldn’t be sleeping, though. Not anytime soon.

She couldn’t figure out why it hurt so much.

 

\---

 

Sombra was laying against the door when Symmetra opened it, and rolled backward slightly into the room. The movement shook her awake suddenly and she gasped, one hand flying out to steady her.

“Wh-what’s-” her eyes flew up. “ _ Chica - _ look, I-”

“Take me to the doctor.” Symmetra’s face was blank, her words soft but hoarse. Dried blood was smeared a little bit across her face and her flesh hand, and her hair seemed to be stuck to her forehead.

“What?” Sombra pushed herself to her feet, holding Oso tightly to her side. “What are y-”

“Take me to the doctor. I do not know the way.” Symmetra’s eyes stayed fixed on the ground. “I am in need of medical attention.”

“Wh- yeah, yeah of course,  _ ami-” _

“Please don’t.” Her eyes slid shut with the whisper and a tear slid down her cheek. “Don’t.”

Sombra stared for a moment, her throat closing up entirely. There was no way any words could make it out. As she went to put Oso down on the side of the room, she wiped at her cheeks and tried to shove away the pain that wrenched in her gut.

“Sorry,” she eventually managed to croak out as she made her way toward the front door. “ _ Chica _ , I’m really sorry for-”

“Don’t.” Symmetra shook her head simply, and followed Sombra out into the world. It was easy enough to avoid lies. Simply don’t listen. Don’t let people talk. They couldn’t lie if you never listened. They couldn’t lie if you never spoke to them. They couldn’t. Just don’t listen. Just don’t let them talk.

“Look, I know it-” Sombra’s voice failed her again but she cleared it almost angrily as turmoil roiled in her gut. “I know it hurt. That sucks. That really sucks.”

That much, at least, Symmetra would believe. It was fact, after all. “Yes. It did. It does.” She didn’t look over. Looking at Sombra hurt. “Am I a prisoner here?”

Sombra whirled to face her in shock, eyes wide, halfway up the staircase that led outside. The Architech still didn’t meet her gaze, though, and backed away as Sombra stepped closer. “What? Are you-” Sombra forced a snicker; she needed to stay afloat, she couldn’t let herself fall down into the miring pit of genuine emotion. Jokes were easier. “I don’t remember throwing any handcuffs on you!”

Symmetra didn’t respond.

Sombra’s grin had only been halfhearted to begin with and now wavered before slipping entirely. She swallowed slowly. “Why does it matter?” It was a fearful question, which made sense - after all, She was afraid of what the answer might be.

“Why would you suspect?” Symmetra’s eyes squinted in the sunlight as they stepped out into the world. It was harsh. It burned her. It hurt her. She had no choice in the matter. She limped slightly in pain, but refused to take Sombra’s offered arm. “I wish to know if I am free to leave.”

“...and if you are?”

“Then I will.”

The whole trip to the doctor, Sombra did nothing but clench her jaw and try to fight it all back. Her knees wanted to collapse, her gut wanted to send her doubled over to the ground. Her eyes wanted to burst into tears but she managed to keep them to a burning trickle instead.

It just didn’t make any sense. She couldn’t figure out why it hurt so much.

 

\---

 

Hawk-i wasn’t exactly pleased to see her again, but he wasn’t exactly displeased either. The world had long since kicked the shit out of him too much for anything like that. He had a hard time giving much of a shit.

“You didn’t listen to me,” he observed as he fixed up several torn stitches in Symmetra’s side. “And I don’t even want to know why you decided to headbutt a wall.”

“I apologize, doctor,” she whispered softly.

There had been a time it would all have inspired a lot in him. A time he would have asked her to come back for a consult, so he could send her to a specialist and get her some help to deal with it. The signs weren’t hard to read. He knew what headbutting a wall meant. The silences, the way she took instructions and reacted to things.

Now, though? There weren’t exactly a lot of those sorts of specialists left - if any - and certainly none who would be willing to take a patient from an _ omnic. _ He just considered himself lucky he hadn’t been beaten to death in an alleyway yet. There was nothing else to be done about it.

The doctor just grunted as he started to wipe away dried blood from her forehead, preparing the liquid sutures to seal up the wound. “It’s fine. I’m not upset, anyway.  _ You’re _ the one that got hurt.”

Symmetra let out a single laugh as she started to cry again.  _ Yes. I am, am I not? _ She held herself still, though, while Hawk-i worked.

Sombra wasn’t in the room. She’d left as soon as she dropped the Architech off. She hadn’t spoken.

It was all the answer Symmetra needed.

 

\---

 

It had been almost a  week. Four stools on either side of her were empty, and had been ever since she’d broken a shot-glass upside the head of the last man who tried to sit next to her. Then stomped on his throat when he was on the ground. He’d probably survive, but nobody else wanted to take the risk. Better to give her space.

The bartender was used to seeing Sombra angry. Usually, though, smashing a glass or two over some asshole’s head and dislocating a few joints tended to cheer her right up, put the spring back in her step. This time was different, though. She was drinking like…

...well, if he were stupid enough to say anything about it to anybody, he would’ve said she was drinking like she wanted to die. He’d started watering down her tequila, for fear of whether she’d survive the night if she kept taking it full-strength - and he only hoped that she would never,  _ ever _ find out.

For the last week she’d been hopping from bar to bar, glumly, with little change except for occasionally to cause problems if a bar made the mistake of _ cutting her off _ instead of letting her leave of her own free will.

Just like Symmetra had left.

Sombra knocked back another double-barrel of shots angrily at the thought, her visage darkening. Her teeth and her eyes hurt. They’d hurt for a week. Not to mention her gut. She told herself that was just the tequila. She knew it was a lie. She didn’t care.

With a grunt, she shoved herself back off of the stool and wobbled unsteadily, throwing her glass at the ground with a quiet swear where it shattered into pieces just like everything else, just like the rest of her life. Glowering, she stalked out of the bar.

_ Huh. It’s night time. _ She didn’t care. All it meant was that some of the bars might not be open. It was about all that mattered now.

So close. She’d been  _ so _ close.

For the most part, she walked pretty straight - wobbling a little left or right, but she managed to stay on the sidewalk at least. Still, some idiot made the mistake of thinking she’d be easy prey; a hand shot out from an alley holding a knife, but they didn’t even have time to demand her wallet before she’d emptied a clip of bullets at them.

Reloading with a pout, she shoved her gun back into its holster.  _ Maybe I should go somewhere that has wings _ .  _ When’s the last time I ate, anyway? _ She couldn’t remember. It hardly mattered.

She was gonna die in this hole just like all the rest of them. She’d had one chance at something better and she’d blown it. Big time. She didn’t really remember pulling the gun out again, but it glinted in the street-lamp out of the corner of her eye.

_ One chance. Blew my one chance. Fuck it. _

Clenching her teeth with angry tears, she shoved the gun back into its holster. Maybe it would stay there this time rather than trying to find her temple again.

One chance.  _ One _ . One, in the whole world, and it was gone - and everything else had gone with it. Her whole life, she’d just tried to survive; to stay afloat until she could find a raft, or find land, and she’d found it. And she’d sunk it.

Now, what was left? What was the point now? There was nothing else.

One chance. That had to be why it hurt so much. That was the only thing that made sense. That had to be it.

Sombra shouldered her way angrily into another bar and bounced off of somebody coming out.

Rico chuckled, his voice higher than it had been before. “Well, fancy running into  _ you _ here.”

Frowning, Sombra took a few seconds to figure out whose blurry, ugly face that was. “Whm… huh? Oh. Rico. Yeah, whatever, get the fuck outta my way or I’ll kill you and shit.”

He snorted, shoving past her into the night. “Geeze. I thought  _ she _ was taking it badly.”

He was dead before the door swung shut behind him, and then Sombra kicked his body, swearing loudly as the gunshots echoed through the night. Not that anybody would care. “Dammit! Now how the fuck am I supposed to find out-” she smacked her own cheek. “C’mon,  _ chica, _ that was dumb. Okay. Okay…” she forced herself to breathe slowly, holstering her gun.

Rico was an idiot. He wasn’t smart enough to find her  _ chica _ on his own - so either he had got help, or he’d got lucky, or he’d been lying.

“Hey,  _ pendejo,” _ Sombra nudged his body with a foot, frowning. “You lying to me about this shit? If you’re lying I’m gonna be pissed. I might kill you again.” The corpse didn’t respond, of course. “Yeah fuck you too, prick.”

She sighed, leaning back against the wall of the bar with her eyes closed, and did one of the things she liked the least.

Along the way, she’d had a lot of operations. Most of them were illegal, but  _ none _ of them were pointless, and even if she had never taken advantage of a few, they were still there. Originally, she’d actually gotten this implant to deal with the possibility of getting poisoned - a little blood-screen that could filter out toxins.

It could also filter out alcohol.

Sombra shuddered as she felt herself sobering up, It just felt  _ wrong _ , and gross, and she didn’t like it at all. If there was even the faintest chance in hell that Rico hadn’t been lying, though…

She couldn’t take that chance. Nobody got their hands on her  _ chica. _ Even if that definition of “nobody” had recently been widened out to include her, too. The thought didn’t feel great as it dawned on her.

It hurt in a whole different way.

A few minutes later when she was fully, awfully sober again, she knelt down and went through his pockets. Some change, a gun, a knife, a phone. Grinning, Sombra patted him on the cheek. “Ah, there we go. Hey, you know, fuck you straight to hell, Rico - and I’ll see you there. Now shut up and stay dead, I gotta be all heroic and shit.”

She stood up and started to walk away, pulling whatever she could from the phone - which was a lot.

Maybe he’d been lying. Maybe she’d just heard him wrong in her drunken haze - she snickered at that thought, the idea that Rico was dead because she’d heard him wrong while drunk - but if there was even a chance that Symmetra  _ was _ being watched by anyone who had anything to do with Rico, it had to be dealt with.

Hopefully, she would be okay with it. Hopefully she wouldn’t think it counted as lying again, or stalking, or whatever, but as Sombra’s eyes fixed with steely determination above her grin - as she waved her camo on and disappeared, literally and figuratively, into the night - she knew one thing: she didn’t care. If there was even a chance anybody was going to try  _ anything _ with Symmetra, Sombra would be there to stop them. Stalking or otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was really rough to write - honestly, I feel like I kind of failed in writing Symmetra's episode there. I didn't go into enough detail in the ways that I wanted, necessarily, but I really don't think I could handle doing better than I did. I had enough problems with writing what I did, heh, it would only be worse if I did more - but hopefully I could shed a little bit of light, at least. I don't know what it's like for anyone else, obviously, but hopefully I was able to demonstrate a little bit of something of what it's like for me. I'll be honest, it's a little tough to keep my mind straight when editing this chapter? I can't seem to really consider it wholly the same way I'm usually able to - uh, please let me know if I seem to have left anything out, or there are spelling errors or anything. I feel like there are a few lurking but I can't ferret them out, so help would be appreciated, thank you!
> 
> So, yeah, Sombra's not exactly great with emotion and neither's Symmetra. Who could've thought it would cause an issue, right? Heh. Anyway, sorry, this one's rough. It'll get better, I promise it will! For now, the previous fluffy chapters are still there if you need, hehe.
> 
> Soundtrack suggestion for this chapter is [Chemistry of a Car Crash, by Shiny Toy Guns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGJdXRZj9pU) Lyrics? We got lyrics.  
>  _You're waking up  
>  A part of me I've never known  
> And I've never felt  
> So invincible  
> What took you so far away?_
> 
> _Lost for tonight again  
>  That's what you wanted?_
> 
> Come back next time (probably in two days), when things get worse because we can find out what Symmetra's been doing for the week they're apart. However, things do brighten toward the end of the chapter. Nothing brings people together like a shadowy organization trying to get them killed, right? Just stick with me a little while longer; it'll get better. Trust me?


	10. Hot Pursuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Symmetra deals with being alone. It's not the first time. It _is_ the worst time. It only makes things clearer, though: there is only one path open to her, and to the world. It must be rebuilt, and if only Sombra has the keys to Moksha, then she'll simply need to work with Sombra. Luckily for the hacker, it gives her an opportunity to apologize - the only question that remains is whether she can _really_ let somebody in. It's a terrifying thing, to let somebody close to your heart... you never know who might bring a knife with them. Being on the run from the worst foe she's ever run aground of, though, does give her a bit of added impetus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: lots of crying and emotion, traumatic memories, I feel so bad about Symmetra's fixated memories whenever she thinks about how people treated Satya. I mean, I know I _wrote_ them, but I still feel so bad for them - so, be forewarned of that as needed. I'd say it's less likely to cause problems than last chapter, though.

For a week, she didn’t speak.

It might have been surprising, to some, how little it mattered. Not to Symmetra, though. Things were often simpler if one didn’t speak. Didn’t let others speak. Both.

The last words she’d spoken had been an apology to the doctor. Before that, a statement of her intent to leave Sombra.

Intent.

Desire?

It was an eternal question she faced. One other people seemed to have no problem with - they knew what they wanted, they did it, it fit. She could hit two out of three if she aimed for the former. Usually. The likelihood of the third was certainly very low indeed.

She had  _ needed _ to leave, hadn’t she? Sombra had lied to her, had leveraged a false story in order to create goodwill. In order to manufacture a situation which was beneficial to her, regardless of what it meant to Symmetra. She never even stopped to  _ ask _ what it meant to Symmetra.

Everyone only ever wanted her for what she could offer. They never wanted her for  _ her _ , and the only problem was that if everyone kept telling her she didn’t care, couldn’t care, couldn’t feel right - Satya didn’t care, Satya didn’t feel, Satya wasn’t like the other kids - then why did it  _ hurt _ so much?

_ “Well, then they’re idiots.” _

_ “Who, everyone?” _

_ “Yup!” _

The conversation popped into her mind unbidden and just sharpened the pain. Pain at betrayal, pain at loss, what was the difference anyway? Her life had been pain for almost the duration, why should anything change now? The old world still stood. She could not hope to benefit in it - none could.

She slept (or at least, spent the nights) in alleyways, tucked into holes where she wouldn’t be found, pulling everything in tight. Holding it all in. It was easy,  _ survival _ was easy.

_ Tick, tock, tick, tock. Good little clock. _

It was still a comforting thought, at least. It eased the pain as the ticking continued to sound in the unplumbed depths of her mind, somewhere in behind her conscious thoughts. She often wondered what was in there. How different it must be from everyone else. Substantially, had been the only answer given. The only evidence provided. Ten people in a room, having a conversation, having fun - spoiling it was as simple as introducing Satya.

Tears trickled down her cheeks and mixed with rain, but it hardly mattered. Nobody was here, nobody would mock her for it. She didn’t care about crying. She cared about  _ laughing.  _ People laughing at her. Everything felt fine until other people told her it wasn’t. Everything was good until other people came along. On her own, everything was fine. Had been fine, at least.

So why did she even bother?

She never would have seen the cartoon coyote on her own.

Never would have tried scotch, or had a bed and a home, never would have experienced those oddly pleasing three-piece shots; tequila, salt, lime.

One night, she’d tried to to go into a bar and order them herself, but it had been far too crowded and she’d immediately been forced to exit again. A trip to the less-populated grocery store had netted a bottle of tequila, several limes and a grinder of salt, which let her try for herself one night.

It had been an unmitigated failure. The limes had been bitter and she’d used far too much salt, and spent twenty minutes crying in the alleyway.

She felt raw inside, and numb at the same time. It wasn’t pleasant in the slightest. At least her ribs no longer hurt. She couldn’t bring herself to be pleased about that, though. Not in anything more than a distant sense.

It had only been a week - not even quite. She’d only been with Sombra for less than a  _ week _ , and two days of that were largely addled beyond the point of recollection. Yet, she couldn’t remember which direction she’d been going before meeting the purple-eyed woman. North? South?

Did it matter?

Of course it didn’t. She  _ had _ nowhere to go. With her arm, she could make a glass, a turret, a stool, but houses? Shops? Walls to keep out the hostile world; shining towers reaching up to the clean air in the skies? Vehicles, aircraft, hospitals, food-houses, workplaces, another Academy gleaming in the sun to train a new wave of Architechs?

Not a chance. Not a  _ chance. _

She could hardly even see them anymore in her mind’s eye.

Symmetra clenched her arms as tightly around herself as she could as she wept openly, tucked into a hole in an alley in the rain.

The Vision struggled as she did. They were one, and she worried over its uncertainty - during her good moments. When the sun was out and she wasn’t hungry, when nobody was looking at her, she worried over the Vision’s seemingly uncertain future.

During her darker moments? When eyes leered and her stomach growled? She was absolutely ruined by the loss of it. Devastated by the death of hope.

Everything was so much the worse for what she’d been through. Every stone paving she was made to sleep on, so much harder because it wasn’t that bed. Every cold night so much more chilling because it did not have Sombra’s warmth. Every scrounged meal so much less satisfying because there were no cartoons to go with it, no laughter, no smiles. Even if they had been false, even if they had been only lies, they had been  _ pleasant  _ lies at least.

At least she didn’t need to eat those fajitas anymore. Her overall living arrangements were perhaps even tidier than that home had been - the alleys were filthy, yes, but perhaps not  _ as _ filthy.

...but there, she had been able to clean. To  _ improve. _

Now that was lost. There was no improving here.

Had she  _ wanted _ to leave? She’d needed to. Staying would only be a cruelty, to keep herself somewhere she was not truly wanted.

Although she certainly wasn’t wanted anywhere else. The world had seen fit to make that clear to her.

Another sleepless night ended as her alarm blinked gently at the corner of her vision. Six o’clock. She stood and brushed herself off, taking a few moments to ensure that her Architech’s uniform was as clean as she could manage.

Breakfast was a granola bar. Half of one - she wanted to have something to eat for lunch, after all. She would need to find something to do for money, soon, or at least some place she could trade.

Nobody seemed to see her, and she liked that at least. It was not crowded, but every person on the street looked at their feet - mired in their own problems, rain dripping from their hair. It was comforting and depressing at once.

She  _ would _ build a better world for them. Even if she needed to do so one brick at a time.

The rain began to drip from her nose as she raised her chin, clenching her jaw against the horrors of the world. Death happened. The world was dying, it  _ would _ die, and from its ashes would rise a new one - but not unaided. The world could not be left to its own devices.

It was dying. Any person could see that - if not, then Symmetra suspected that Sombra had been right, they  _ were _ all idiots. The world was dying and the people were too, and if nobody gave them a future, there would be none.

Nobody deserved to profit at another’s loss, no person was required to lessen themselves for another - yet, one could not hope to stand alone. Teamwork was an entirely different thing from self-sacrifice.

Symmetra would not lessen herself for their benefit, but she  _ would _ build a better world for them all. If she had to do it alone, one brick at a time, then that is what she would do.

...and if she had to work alongside a purple liar, then  _ that _ is what she would do.

The former could always be tried later if the latter failed.

Rain fell heavily across the city, across rich and poor alike, healthy and sick - the rain didn’t care, the city didn’t care, and neither did Symmetra. No matter what else occurred, she  _ would _ build a better world.

_ The Vision is not dead. Not while there are those who still see it, who still seek it. _

_ Not while I live. _

The eternal cycle had one benefit: it was eternal. She used to think it was only for people, but that was clearly untrue - it was for the whole world. Life, death, rebirth; the endless cycle, filled with pain and strife and struggling. Struggling to survive, but beyond that -  _ greater  _ than that - struggling for something else.

Freedom.

_ Moksha. _

Another tear slid unseen amidst the rain down Symmetra’s cheek, but this one was of determination, not hopelessness. All was not lost. All was  _ never _ lost. If she needed to work alongside a liar, she would do so. The world would be reborn, whatever the cost, and it would be  _ immaculate. _

A hand gripped at her arm and she spun instinctively away, but it did not release its grip and pulled her tighter instead. “Miss Vaswani.”

Symmetra’s eyes flashed up at the name she couldn’t recall hearing in a decade, studying the face that had spoken it. Her lips twisted into a gentle frown, and for the first time in a week, she spoke.

“I don’t know you.”

It was all the statement required as her metal hand lit and a beam arced from it, sending the person reeling back and stumbling to the ground as Symmetra drained their energy until they lost consciousness a second and a half later. Then, she turned and began to run.

Somebody had found her. Somebody who knew her  _ name. _ It was a bad omen - she’d left Satya Vaswani in the old country, buried her there in the ashes and had only ever used her new moniker in her travels. Nobody should know her birth name except for Vishkar… and Vishkar was dead.

Unlike whoever had accosted her. They were quite unconscious, but quite alive as well.

A gunshot sounded and Symmetra didn’t flinch, she only ran all the harder for it. Her beam could not hope to compete in a contest against guns or bricks or crowds - a surprise against one or two, it was ideal for, but it had never been a combat weapon.

She needed to find safety, or to make some of her own. For now, the blue bubble she wove around herself would suffice, but its shortcomings had been made evident on these very streets. She would need to find something more permanent. A disguise, at least.

Somewhere to stay. Somewhere safe where she would not be found. She knew of only one such place.

_ Tick, tock, tick, tock. Good little clock. _

 

\---

 

Sombra gaped in horror at the sight which greeted her, the one which she’d hoped in her deepest nightmares would never happen again. A wide open stylized eye, three dots above and below, white over a splashed red background.

This time it wasn’t on her computers. It was on her  _ walls.  _ It was painted on her bed. It was sprayed on her ceiling where she’d stapled a sock years ago.

The eyes stared back at her as she stared at them, chilled and shocked. There was nothing else to it. It had been a nice enough hole in the ground, but it was time to be gone. When she’d found a few inklings on Rico’s phone she’d been shaken, but seeing this now? Time to burn it. All of it.

At least the security door was still locked. Her computers behind there were untouched.

Gun in hand, Sombra sprinted forward through what she’d once called home. She grabbed Oso and stuffed him down the front of her jacket, and snapped her fingers as she ran back toward the front door. A sizzling sound came, muffled, through the thick steel door - but the smoke would never leak through.

_ Dios mio I’m glad I kept it all backed up. _ Her security systems had notified her that her home had been breached, but the cameras were blank.

_ Had _ been blank.

Now they showed a cloaked figure outside, standing in the rain.

Gritting her teeth, Sombra steeled herself and waved a hand, disappearing from view. “Come get me,  _ hijo de puta _ .”

The cloaked person hesitated for a few more moments, glancing around, before they stepped forward through the holographically-projected wall. When they got to the bottom of the long staircase, Sombra was waiting for them - machine pistol in hand, invisible, standing on top of a filing cabinet. Somebody had disabled her security protocols. It was all down to her.

_ Element of surprise. _ She knew she’d only have one chance at this.

As she took aim, the person flipped the hood of their cloak down. Sombra leapt down onto them.

“ _ Chica!” _ She wrapped her arms desperately around Symmetra, pulling her close. “For  _ fuck’s _ sake you scared me there. Look, I- I know I fucked up, okay? Just please.  _ Please _ , we need-” her eyes flicked in fear to the emblems emblazoned all over what had once been her home. “We  _ need _ to stick together right now.”

“Sombra.” Symmetra grunted, wincing at the pain. “I see you’ve redecorated. Get off of me.”

Sombra pushed herself up with a cough, clearing her throat and keeping an eye on the cameras. “We need to leave. Quickly. I didn’t do this shit with the eyes and it is  _ not _ a good sign, okay? C’mon.”

She held out a hand.

Symmetra looked down at that hand for a moment. All the things it had once seemed to mean, and now it was offered again. She did not take the hand. Not yet. “There was a person who accosted me in the street. They knew my name. My birth name.”

“I- look, I get that you don’t trust me right now but I promise I didn’t tell anybody.” Sombra’s eyes were almost pleading as Symmetra’s gaze snapped up away from her hand at the words. “ _ Chica _ , I- I don’t know  _ what _ I did, exactly, but I know it was something. That’s as obvious as looking at you, alright? I fucked up and I hurt you, and I really  _ am _ fuckin’ sorry for that but I’d love a chance to explain. But these people will  _ rip  _ your life to shreds.” She swallowed heavily, voice straining quietly. “I know, alright? They already did it to me once. We  _ need _ to leave. I’m begging you,  _ chica _ ,  _ please. _ ”

_ If no other path is presented… _ “Very well. I expect an explanation the moment we reach safety.”

Sombra let out a triumphant, brief laugh as Symmetra grabbed her hand, and immediately started to run up the stairs with the Architech in tow. There would be time later to explain that they might never reach safety again.

She’d been preparing for this day for a long time - her whole life, in some ways. Every day Sombra wondered whether she’d ever see the eye again. She took more precautions. She removed her limitations. She took every step she could.

Sometimes it just wasn’t enough.

 

\---

 

The bus shook gently as it made its way. As governments slowly dissolved or shoved their thumbs further up their collective asses, roads fell more and more into disrepair and the transit system (such as it was) had been forced to compensate by simply lifting everything up on the wheels and adding bigger springs. Those that still ran on actual wheels, of course - the fancy hover-vehicles didn’t have that problem, but the pair were trying to stay unnoticed.

“Who are they?”

Symmetra still wasn’t looking at her. Hadn’t really looked at her since they’d run into each other again. Sombra didn’t like that. It made her feel bad - not just negative feelings, but actually feeling like she was a  _ bad person. _ She wasn’t a bad person. She was a little greedy sometimes, she didn’t give a shit about laws and she stole, and she killed, and sometimes she was just a bitch, but she  _ wasn’t _ a bad person.

She wasn’t.

It was kind of frustrating, but she couldn’t bring herself to really commit to that feeling - it sputtered out before it could get going, and just got replaced by a weird kind of coldness. Fear, but she wasn’t certain what it was over.

“Don’t know,” Sombra shrugged in response. “Not exactly. They’re a big conglomeration, powerful - I just call them The Oculus ‘cause I’m a nerd like that!” She snickered and glanced over but the flat expression on Symmetra’s face made the grin slide right off.

“You said you had encountered them before.”

“Yeah,” Sombra sighed, shaking her head before resting it in her hands, elbows propped up on her knees. Every bump the bus hit jolted right through to her brain and that felt fitting at least. “I wasn’t always this fabulous, you know. Before Sombra? Well, there was someone else, but she’s gone now. Every trace, every mention of the name - birth records, everything, wiped.” She shrugged, a little uncomfortably. “It was what I had to do when they found me.”

“And now they have found me as well.” Symmetra laughed lightly. “That is becoming commonplace, it seems.”

Sombra’s eyes flashed over to hers with more than a little ire (and a few tears) in them, but Symmetra just regarded her coolly. “Look, I- would you give me a chance to explain that?”

There was a long moment of silence, broken by the sounds of the engine and the suspension squeaking.

“I am not restraining you. Explain what you will.”

“Okay,” Sombra sighed, rolling her eyes, “thank you, geeze, was that so hard?” Her gut roiled and she didn’t like it one bit. Although she had to admit it was better than anything  _ else _ she’d felt for the past week.

“Yeah, I tracked you down.” Sombra’s eyes fixed on the floor in front of her as she leaned forward on her knees. “I found out about Vishkar, hard-light, it was a little interesting at first. Then I dug a little deeper, tried to find out what had happened  _ since _ \- where it had all gone…”

She flung herself back against her seat with a sigh, her eyes studying the ceiling now. She didn’t want to think about her  _ chica’s _ stupid cute little face and how it must be twisting right now, but she still glanced over for just an instant.

Symmetra looked entirely calm. Not hurt, not pained, not anything.

It made it worse. “I  _ found _ ,” Sombra groaned, closing her eyes and resting a hand overtop of them, “a couple of things. One was a trail of crumbs that led me to Project Moksha. The other was a trail of crumbs that led me to you.”

“How much did you find?”

With mounting frustration, Sombra dropped her eyes to Symmetra’s, scowling slightly. “All of it, alright? Sombra’s good, she doesn’t miss a trick - I found every scrap of information there was to know about you, Satya Vaswani, Vishkar’s rising star. Hell,  _ chica _ , I found shit you don’t even know about yourself, and then, I found  _ you.” _

Her frustration faltered, her face fell and she looked away again, leaning her head forward to knock lightly against the seat in front of her. “...and then I found you,” she sighed. “I don’t know what the fuck this all is,  _ chica. _ You, I don’t- you’re really fucking confusing, you know?” Sombra’s voice strained a little, rising higher as it choked with emotion - why the  _ fuck _ did she feel like crying? Bullshit. That was bullshit. This was bullshit.

“I just-” she cleared her throat, frowning. “I wanted to keep you safe, okay? Nobody else was gonna get their hands on you. Then you had to go and run away, and then I bumped into Rico and-” her voice choked off as another wave shot through her, icy cold fear. “I had to keep you safe. I was heading back home to find you again - I know, I know I said I’d let you go, but I…” her voice dropped to a whisper. “I had to keep you safe. Even if you didn’t want me to.”

Symmetra didn’t know what to do with that. What to trust, what to  _ hear _ . Words were always so difficult when other people spoke them, anything could mean anything. She turned to look out of the window. A countryside she didn’t know whipped past - where where they? Where were they heading? She didn’t know. Why was she even here?

An old adage popped into her head. Something about the devil you know, and the devil you don’t. She’d never liked it before. She didn’t really  _ like _ it now.

Sombra had explained some. It seemed only fair to return the gesture.

“For my life, it seems that people have had two manners of treatment when it came to me.” Symmetra paused for a moment, thoughtful, as Sombra glanced over - but she continued to look out of the window. “No, three. Either to ridicule me and attempt to press me underfoot, to see me as a broken object they could attempt to repair, or simply to use me to further their own goals.”

She fought to continue speaking despite the hot prickles that roamed her skin, under her scalp, itching and hurting and bringing memories to mind. Her skin felt wrong and she wished, not for the first time, that she didn’t have it. She turned to face Sombra with a slight frown. “ _ I _ did not matter to them. I did not matter to  _ you _ . You did not want  _ me _ , you wanted the Visionary Satya Vaswani and her magical arm,” Symmetra laughed lightly but it was a hollow, humourless sound.

“ _ Chica…” _ Sombra’s voice was soft and almost horrified as her throat tightened up, and empty feeling soaking into her gut. “What? No, that’s not-”

“You tracked me down for my abilities,” Symmetra stated with a nod, still looking flatly at Sombra. “You learned what you could of hard light and encouraged my demonstrations of the same. You appreciated when I cleaned you, or your home; when I cooked, when I aided you over the cameras. It is clear to me in hindsight that, from the beginning, I was only a tool for you to use.”

How she could say shit like that without crying was a mystery to Sombra.  _ Her _ cheeks were definitely soaked, and she couldn’t even manage a word at first as Symmetra just turned and looked blankly back toward the window again.

Symmetra didn’t know what the tears meant and they bothered her, annoyingly confusing. She didn’t even know what her  _ own _ tears ever meant, how could she guess at those of another? She felt empty and hollow inside yet still fraying at the edges. Beside her, unseen next to the wall of the bus, her thumb ran in a pattern along her index finger - from the second knuckle to the third, and back, and back again…

“Y-” Sombra started but the word failed to come out. “You don’t-  _ chica _ , that’s not true. That- yeah, okay, I… I admit, at first, I just wanted you for the doors you could unlock for me.” Her eyes burned and she wished the tears could put out the fire, but they didn’t. “Now, though? That’s not-” she coughed as her voice failed again.

Symmetra turned around to face her with a steep frown. Incomplete sentences, no support - just tears and frowns and  _ emotions _ and it didn’t help at all. “What, then?” she asked tersely, the hot sensations under her skin redoubling as she searched those purple eyes. As if it could tell her anything. As if it ever could.

As if she could trust the woman’s answer, even if she  _ did _ answer.

Could she?

Sombra’s eyebrows warped, trying to decide between pulling in in frustration and tilting down out of sadness, and caught between the two. How the fuck was she supposed to say it? She didn’t talk about this shit. Hearts and feelings and shit, it was just - it just got turned into ammunition later. It hurt to think about. Made her want to cry. It hurt.

“Okay, fine,” she hissed softly through clenched teeth, not breaking eye contact. Neither did Symmetra. “You want me to say it? Fine, I’ll say it - I like you,  _ chica. _ I- I like you  _ a lot _ , just for you: for your stupid puppy-dog eyes and your cute little giggles and your-” her throat clenched up again, a fresh wave of tears springing from her eyes as she leaned her head back with an agonized groan.

“It fucking…  _ wrecked _ me when you left and I-” a strangled noise worked its way out of her throat and interrupted the words. Where the fuck these tears were all coming from, she couldn’t begin to guess. “There, fine, you’ve got the biggest gun in the world loaded and pointed right at my head, alright? So just pull the trigger and put me out of my fucking misery already!”

Symmetra watched. She didn’t know what any of it meant. What Sombra was feeling. What  _ she _ was feeling. Hot and cold and tight and rough in various places, her face wanting to contort into shapes, but she didn’t  _ understand _ them. She thought she might, sometimes, but people always told her she was wrong. Satya didn’t like things, Satya didn’t understand things, Satya couldn’t. Stupid Satya. Her heart didn’t work right, her brain didn’t work right, she had to be fixed or just thrown to the side.

Sombra had never said she was  _ wrong. _ Confusing, and silly, and many other things, but maybe those were only terms used in bonding. 

Maybe.

“Prove it.” The words were almost impossibly soft. Symmetra couldn’t push anything louder out of her closed-off windpipe.

Sombra’s eyes flashed over in panic. “ _ Prove _ it?” She started to laugh. “Pro-  _ chica _ , how ca-” she cut off sharply, her eyes flying wide. Then she started to laugh again, slowly, quietly - almost maniacally.

“Okay, okay fine,” she shook her head with a frantic grin. “You want me to prove it? Fine. Fine, well we’ll - I’ll just prove it then, yeah, fine, yeah.” She clenched her jaw as she spoke and turned to face Symmetra in the seats, loosening the straps that held her jacket closed.

Everything felt like it was coming apart at the seams, Oculus was back and she was on the verge of losing everything  _ again _ , and contrary to popular opinion, it hurt so much  _ more _ the second time.  _ What else can I lose except everything, right?  _ Not exactly a comforting thought, but if she had nothing else to lose...

Symmetra raised her eyebrows just slightly, not certain how stripping was supposed to prove anything - but as it turned out, that wasn’t Sombra’s plan. When she loosened her jacket, she reached inside and gently tugged something out.

Oso’s head peeked up from inside Sombra’s jacket, and purple eyes stared back in a mixture of fear and pain and determination. “In my whole life,” she whispered, tears trickling down her cheeks, “I have never even  _ shown  _ anybody this bear. You want proof that I’m with you,  _ chica?” _ She tugged Oso out of her jacket and held him out.

“Take him.”

Symmetra’s eyes flew wide as she stared down at the stuffed bear. The offering. The proof. Everything in her quivered and shook and she didn’t know what to do about it, didn’t even know if she liked it or hated it anymore. Anything. A tear slid down one cheek and fell onto Oso’s head, making a dark spot on his face - on  _ his _ cheek, right below the button eye.

Crying bear. It was funny.

Symmetra started to laugh gently, smiling, and she reached out - put her hands on Sombra’s, and pushed the bear gently away. “Please - please keep him. I- I couldn’t, I…” her eyes raised to meet those purple ones, so inscrutable, and Symmetra’s smile only widened. “I believe you. Thank you.”

Sombra just stared. Reflexively she pulled Oso toward herself, tucked him away down the front of the jacket and hid him safely away from the world. Crossed her arms to hold him tight in behind the fabric as she searched Symmetra’s face. Was this a lie? A cruel joke? A rebuke? Was this acceptance? Agreement? Sombra’s brows drew slowly closer together as she tried to figure it out. Whether she was really in the clear. Whether it was really done.

“I…” Symmetra swallowed, wiping a tear from her eye. “Would you like a kiss? I would.”

“Ugh, of  _ course  _ I would, you little-” Sombra rolled her crying eyes and leaned in with a forced laugh. 

She threw her arms around Symmetra’s neck and dumped it all into a kiss - all the confusion and fear, the worries, the frustration, and of course the feeling that inspired all those others. Every time she’d scowled at the taste of the tequila and wished Symmetra was there with some limes and salt, every time she’d heard a laugh and wished it was Symmetra’s giggle, every moment she’d been  _ without _ her and wishing; she poured out her heart through her lips and her tongue and her hands in a way that she couldn’t manage with words.

Symmetra sighed through her nose, running her fingers back through purple-dyed hair as all of the tension melted out of her, every jagged spire inside her core smoothing over and dropping away. Here in Sombra’s arms, here  _ together _ . It couldn’t possibly be what she thought it was, it couldn’t possibly be love - she’d been told she couldn’t. Everyone said so.

_ “Well, then they’re idiots.” _

_ “Who, everyone?” _

_ “Yup!” _

Her eyes flew wide as the thought intruded and she gasped, pulling instinctively away and Sombra did the same.

“Geeze  _ amiga,” _ she sniffled, wiping at her cheeks with a laugh and a roll of her eyes. “Geeze you really had me going there for a second. Almost thought you di-” her voice choked off but she cleared it and plowed through to keep going with the joke. If she could just turn it into a joke maybe it would all be fine. “Almost thought you didn’t- like me!”

Her lips quivered and she dropped her head forward into her hands. “Oh fuck please don’t say  _ anything  _ about that, just- can I uh… can I just forget the whole last week even ever happened? It’s just been really confusing and shit and I don’t know if I c- can fucking-” she gasped a breath, “ _ handle  _ it on top of the fuckin’ Oculus and-”

Symmetra laid a hand on her shoulder as the hacker’s voice cracked and strained. “What week?” She tipped her head forward, resting her forehead on Sombra’s crown and murmuring softly. “The last thing I recall was helping you to discover information on Project Moksha. You must have inebriated me again,” she laughed softly, “as I cannot recall another thing since.”

Sombra shuddered a heavy sigh, collapsing forward into Symmetra’s lap and just breathing heavily for a few moments. It was all alright. She hadn’t left again, she hadn’t- hadn’t heard all of  _ that _ and still left.  _ Fuck Oculus. That shit right there… that was truly terrifying. _

She still wasn’t sure she was actually a fan of the whole “self-honesty” thing. She did have to admit, though, it didn’t hurt anymore.

“Where do we go from here?” Symmetra inquired softly after a few minutes of silently stroking at Sombra’s back - not idly, not pointlessly; she traced the patterns that she knew to be buried beneath the fabric, outlined them precisely. Every touch of her finger sent little sparks through Sombra’s spine.

“Oh,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra sighed and chuckled, straightening up with another one of her trademark grins. Her eyes didn’t shimmer with uncertainty and tears anymore - they held a gleam of determination. “We’re going on an adventure. I hope you’re ready,  _ chica -  _ not sure I’d want to be you right now, because we’re taking you home.”

“India?” Symmetra frowned slightly and Sombra nodded.

“Hyderabad, and then…” her grin widened a little further. “Only one way up,  _ chica. _ We’ve got the keys. We’ve got the codes.” She squeezed Symmetra’s hand a little tighter - wasn’t sure quite when she’d started holding it, but it was nice.

“Just gotta run a little further. I promise I’ll explain it all when we get to the plane, alright?” She leaned her head in against Symmetra’s shoulder. “I just- I gotta nap first. This emotion shit’s  _ hard!”  _ She laughed to try to pass off that utter truth as a joke, and thought she half-succeeded at least.

Symmetra hummed a laugh with a smile, stroking her thumb along the back of Sombra’s hand. Going home - she certainly didn’t think of it that way anymore. At one time it had been, but now? Now, home was wherever she was at the moment.

...except the alleys hadn’t felt like home, she’d only wanted the bed. The markets had not felt like home, she’d just thought back on that awful kitchen with its hotplate and five microwaves.

One thing was absolutely certain - there was one thing, at least, on which she agreed entirely with Sombra. Emotion  _ was _ hard. It was tumultuous and confusing, and Symmetra couldn’t recall having heard somebody else say that. It was comforting to think of that as a similarity - almost as comforting as Sombra’s warmth, her weight pressing against Symmetra’s chest as she lost consciousness, the thought that she had Oso safely with her.

For the first time in three days, Symmetra drifted off to sleep.

 

\---

 

A metallic hand glinted in the setting sun, almost gleaming with reflected reds and purples, looking as if it had been dipped in neon blood. It lowered a pair of binoculars as a voice hummed softly over a radio link.

“Targets confirmed arriving at the airport.” There was a pause. “No, we’ll need to take some kind of action, at least. She’s caught onto us before - she’ll get suspicious if nothing happens. Needs to seem as if we’re trying to stop them.” 

Another pause, and then a soft but growing laugh. “Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Keeps the heat on but doesn’t risk the situation boiling over - on top of which, it gives us more time. Do it. I’ll meet you and the others in Hyderabad. We are so close now.”

The binoculars slid down into the deep pocket of a trenchcoat which obscured all of the person’s definable features from view. The radio link terminated and they simply watched the sky shift through colours toward darkness over the airport as two figures scurried away from the distant bus.

“Run along now, little girl,” the hidden figure chuckled. “ _ Run _ from the big bad wolf. Lead us right to Granny’s house…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've read it half a dozen times, at least, and it still makes me tear up. I'm really pleased with the scene on the bus, it hurts and it's beautiful, and I really hope it comes across to all of you folks the same way I get it :) This chapter just breaks my heart in the best way. I like a how a lot of this ended up, most of Symmetra's stuff actually.
> 
> Soundtrack suggestions for this chapter, there are many. Primarily I'm gonna go for [Great Provider, by the Barenaked Ladies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B3T4a18Pi4) \- at least for Symmetra's section. Lyrics:   
> _"You and I have been through this before;  
>  I owe you my whole life, nothing more.  
> Never said that I liked you the most,  
> You're my father, I'm your son, who's the holy ghost?"_
> 
> ...and I'm gonna go for the titular [Hot Pursuit, by The Bravery](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpRLJ7z2Ki4), for Sombra's sections... and maybe for the Oculus as well :D I think the lyrics are pretty self-evident by listening to it, but anyway!  
>  _"You've got nowhere to run  
>  You've got nowhere to hide  
> I know you won't escape  
> This time_
> 
> _You can't run far enough  
>  You can't run fast enough  
> You can't outrun my love"_
> 
> So yes! They're back together again! Back together the way it should be, and they've got plenty of opportunity to work alongside each other. Particularly with a shadowy organization in the wings, and a shadowy operative as well. Come on back next time when they'll hop on a big airplane heading for Hyderabad. Couldn't possibly end poorly, right? :D Everyone come along to Granny's house now...


	11. Getting it Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Oculus is after Sombra and Symmetra, but all that means is that they don't have much time to rest before moving on. A plane speeds them toward Hyderabad and Project Moksha, but Oculus has other plans and Sombra has a few of her own. Of course, plans don't always work out as intended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't think any warnings are necessary. Some brief painful recollections but they're not focused on.

“I know you’re probably tired of guys saying this,  _ chica _ , but we’ve gotta go in the back way.” Sombra snickered as she led Symmetra away from the airport’s main terminal.

Symmetra didn’t get the joke. On the best of days, she might have - almost certainly if it had picked up off of a thread in conversation rather than coming from nowhere - but this was not the best of days.

Yet, at the same time, it was the best day she could recall.

It was odd and confusing to be here with Sombra again, but it had been odd and confusing before. That was no different. Being here with an open admission of desire and intent was a little different, perhaps, but that still didn’t seem like enough to explain the contrast.

The simple fact of it was that after a week alone, a week without her, Symmetra was simply ecstatic now that Sombra was nearby. She didn’t let go of the hacker’s hand and was only delighted to find that Sombra didn’t seem to want to let go either as she tugged further along the fence. For a few minutes they went along like that, hand-in-hand, and it was wonderful.

“Okay, boost me up and then I’ll pull you over.” Sombra stood ready, her hands clasped around the chain-link fence. The barbed-wire-topped chain-link fence. She didn’t even have a thick blanket to throw over it. Thinking about it now, she realized that it actually wasn’t the best plan.

“Or,” Symmetra pointed out dryly, waving her prosthetic arm and actualizing a pair of handheld wire cutters. “We could simply…” she leaned forward past Sombra and snipped a few of the fence’s links. They pulled back automatically like springs and made a nice little tear in the barrier.

Sombra snorted and rolled her eyes. “Well, yeah, I  _ guess _ we could do it that way,” she shrugged, murmuring as she stepped forward through the fence. “If you wanna be all  _ boring _ about it.”

Symmetra raised her eyebrows to that but Sombra had one of those smirks on again, those smirks where her eyes glittered and it was hard to pull your gaze away from either them or her lips. “Well, perhaps I am simply the boring one,” Symmetra shrugged. “In which case, you are the reckless one to be sure.”

“Aww,” Sombra pouted, “I don’t wanna be reck _ less _ . I  _ want _ to wreck stuff!”

A soft giggle escaped Symmetra’s nose at the play on words. She did love  _ funny _ jokes.

“Okay, now uh… we need to get into that plane.” Sombra pointed to a large passenger jet parked next to the main terminal, hundreds of feet away from where they huddled next to a small, old building. “I can just run in invisible, but that doesn’t really help you. We’ll have to get you a disguise or something.”

Symmetra frowned slightly. “Items you carry disappear as well, yes?” Sombra nodded and Symmetra followed suit. “Give me a moment. This will not take long.”

There were various restrictions on hard-light technology, but they were primarily questions of power, creativity, and skill. Symmetra knew her skill and creativity to be unmatched - even if she  _ weren’t _ the last Architech on earth, she would have been peerless in those areas. Luckily the only real issue with power was one of  _ size. _ With her arm’s internal power source, she could only create something so large, a certain amount of mass; she could only create so  _ much _ , as well, before she would be required to wait for a recharge cycle.

This, though, would not be too large. She knelt down and began to wave her hands, weaving threads of light amongst themselves and condensing them into matter in the way only she could. A few seconds later, she picked up what looked like some kind of triangular platter and handed it over to Sombra.

“There,” she nodded. “Finished. Bring this aboard the craft with you, and I will join you shortly.”

“Okay,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra shrugged. “If you’re sure about it I guess. Uh… see you in a minute?”

“One minute? Very well.”

“W- I- no, I didn’t mean- ugh. I’ll call you over the radio, give me a few minutes, okay?”

Symmetra nodded and Sombra waved her camouflage on with a grin. The Architech turned and started to create the other side of her transporter, but was distracted a second later when something pinched at her bottom.

“Sombra!” she laughed, swatting a hand behind her. “Don’t distract me! You’re meant to be getting on that aircraft, anyway.”

“Hey, can’t blame a girl for trying,” Sombra’s amused voice came seemingly from thin air. “Couple of minutes,  _ chica. _ Don’t get caught out here.”

Symmetra nodded with a grin, picking up the other platter and crouching behind the small building they’d stopped next to. Some sort of old radio construct that had never been removed - no longer operational, certainly. Even if it had been, it would not interfere.

Sombra’s voice came through the small communicator in Symmetra's ear. “Ready for uh…  whatever you've got planned,  _ chica _ . I guess.” Symmetra nodded and activated the link without hesitation, and stepped on to the platform. In an instant, she was transported to the other platter.

Everything was very dark as soon as the flash of the teleporter dimmed, but not before Symmetra had an opportunity see the look of surprise and joy on Sombra's face. “Damn,  _ amiga _ , I thought I was the only girl who could do that! Nice!”

“Sombra,” Symmetra glanced around. “Are we in the baggage compartment?”

“Yeah.”

“Some would not count that as truly being within the aircraft.”

Sombra snorted. “Well, we’re not  _ outside  _ of it, that’s for sure.”

Symmetra shrugged and tipped her head to the side. “Fair. It will be easier to avoid notice down here, anyway.”

With a snicker, Sombra stepped over and leaned back against a pile of suitcases. “Exactly what I was thinking!”

The compartment was only about two-thirds (sixty-four percent, precisely) full, with pallets and suitcases held down in large mesh cargo nets to prevent them from sliding around in flight. Symmetra could only determine that thanks to her ocular implant, which measured up the space around her - her eyes themselves could not see in this darkness. With a slight sigh, she made a small lamp. Simply a little sphere which emanated a soft glow of light.

“Hey, good idea,  _ amiga, _ ” Sombra muttered around a mouthful of chocolate bar as she dropped the wrapper to the floor. “Now I can see your cute face!”

Symmetra’s lips wrinkled in distaste as her eyes dropped to the fallen wrapper. “Must you?”

Unfortunately for her, Sombra still considered that face pretty cute and she chuckled. “Yup! Oh, wait, did you want one?” She pulled out another chocolate bar and offered it, but Symmetra shook her head. With a shrug, the hacker took a big bite.

“So,” the words were somewhat muffled around a mouthful of chocolate which she swallowed hurriedly. “Alright, I guess I’ve still got some explaining to do - but maybe we should start with what you know, first.” Purple eyes studied her in the dim light. “What exactly  _ did _ you already know about Project Moksha,  _ amiga?” _

Symmetra looked away for a moment, her thoughts drifting back to a life she’d largely left behind. Whispers and murmurs in the cafeteria or the halls - ones she could never pull her ears away from, it seemed. In a crowded room she would hear the conversation of a group ten metres away while being unable to catch the words of the person standing right next to her.

Sometimes they were whispers of her. Sometimes they were murmurs of cruelty or stifled laughs that made her scalp prickle and burn, but sometimes…  _ sometimes… _

“Only ever rumours,” she explained softly as the aircraft hummed and rumbled. “It was to be the ultimate realization of Vishkar’s Vision. A way of freeing us from the cycle of horrors of the world. There were… many ideas about what it might entail, where it was located, whether it had even begun construction or was simply still an idea.”

“Oh, they constructed it alright,” Sombra mused, leaning back against the suitcases with a sigh. “They got it  _ almost _ finished. A few codes and it should be ready to go. So… you didn’t actually know what it  _ was?” _

Symmetra shook her head, looking to the hacker with a blend of fear and determination. To hear something so dear to her heart being discussed so idly, and by someone who by all rights had no real purpose knowing in the  _ first _ place… it was difficult. Yet, sometimes, fortuitous things simply happened. The real world was chaotic, unplanned, and as a result it left open the possibility of unlikely occurrences.

She’d never been an admirer of those before. Had never appreciated chaos or happenstance, they undermined plans and eroded ability - the most skilled person in the world could still die by happenstance. The most vital and carefully-laid plans could be dissolved by chaos. They were poisons. Abhorrent.

Now, though - now, watching those almost-glowing purple eyes and thinking of the road that had brought her here, Symmetra was less certain than once she had been.  _ Perhaps there is an upside to chaos. Unpredictable, but then… may it be that there are some things which can only happen by chance? _

She certainly could not have designed this situation and made it come about. She couldn’t even  _ now. _ She simply didn’t understand it well enough.

“Man,” Sombra shook her head with a chuckle, pulling Symmetra from her thoughts. “I mean, I  _ knew _ that I knew a lot, but I didn’t think it was  _ that _ much!” She laughed briefly and grinned. “It’s an orbital platform,  _ chica, _ a space station _. _ The codes we've got are launch codes. The facility we're heading to? Control centre for the launch platform. Like I said, project never got quite finished: they were a few weeks away from the first launch of Architechs into space when the god-programs came running in.”

A little chill rushed through Symmetra at the thought, the memory - screeching electronic voices and shrieking people, fire and blood and waste, so much waste, so much  _ chaos _ and death.

“Hey.  _ Amiga?” _ Sombra didn’t like that faraway look in the Architech’s eyes - she pushed herself forward from the suitcases and took hold of Symmetra’s hand, stroking at her cheek. Symmetra blinked and shook her head slightly, fixing Sombra with a weak smile, but still some fear behind her eyes. “I’m sorry. You alright?”

“It-” Symmetra cleared her throat. “It… is fine. Bad memories.” She sighed, shaking her head as a bit of a frown overtook her face, her thumb running automatically over the back of Sombra’s hand in small strokes. The aircraft shifted and shook, pushing them off-balance.

“There were talks of an orbital station, yes,” she admitted as she crouched to the ground, tugging Sombra’s hand to bring her down as well to lean back against her chest. The weight of her was reassuring, the pressure on her chest; it was calming, and Symmetra needed that right now. “To aid in the construction of future cities. Utopaea’s sections were formed swiftly, yes, but piece by piece - requiring teams of Architechs channeling from massive power banks. The whole city took some time. There were limitations. Various plans were suggested to remove those.”

Sombra snuggled back against Symmetra, hugging Oso tight to her chest underneath her jacket as well as the airplane started to accelerate. It pressed her more firmly back into the Architech, squishing her up against the crates, but Symmetra didn’t seem to mind - in fact, when she sighed, it sounded quite happy and Sombra stopped trying to hold herself back from pushing too hard. It made sense - who didn’t like cuddling, right?

“Well, this was one of those plans, and now we’ve got all we need to finish it off. You can get us in the doors, and I can get the systems up and running once we get there - those codes you helped me snatch were the last piece of the puzzle,  _ amiga.” _

“I like puzzles,” Symmetra sighed, groaning slightly but holding Sombra firmly back against herself. The pressure on her chest was so calming, there seemed to be no room for the twisting threads of anxiety that frayed at every nerve.

Sombra snickered, shaking her head a little. “That’s good to know,  _ chica. _ I’m glad you’re feeling good back there because, I’ll be honest, I’m freaking out up here.” She felt like some old piece of machinery, on the edge of shaking apart - held together by duct tape and a dream.

“Hmm? Here, I will help.” Symmetra took hold of one of Sombra’s hands and lifted it, cupping it over the soft shape under her jacket and squeezing lightly. “There.”

Sombra bit her lips together a little, her eyes tearing up as she tried to suppress the laughter that wanted to burst out of her. Symmetra squeezed her hand down again and Sombra lost it, cracking up and cackling loudly.

Symmetra frowned slowly in confusion. At least the hacker didn’t seem concerned anymore, but  _ laughter _ wasn’t really the response she’d expected from reminding Sombra that Oso was safe and nearby. “What?”

Wiping the tears away from her cheeks, Sombra kept giggling, catching Symmetra’s fingers between hers to hold both of their hands in place. “Oh,  _ chica, _ ” she wheezed, “oh I can’t breathe!” Another brief round of laughter interrupted her, but it was just so damn  _ funny! _

A few moments later she managed to pull herself under control again, soft giggles and snickers interspersing her speech. “ _ Chica,  _ that - okay I mean, I’m sure you  _ meant _ to squeeze my hand down around the bear? But you pretty much just made me grope myself!” She collapsed into laughter again as she tightened her hand - and Symmetra’s as well, by proxy - down around her breast where it had been positioned.

“Oh,” Symmetra hummed. “Well. Those are quite comforting as well.” She grinned as Sombra’s laughter redoubled, hugging the woman close and giving her chest another squeeze.

“Okay, okay,” Sombra gasped breathlessly, “I give! Ah, heh, thanks  _ amiga. _ I needed that. Just… pretty freaky shit to have the Oculus on my tail again - I think they were following you, too.  _ Somebody _ was, I noticed them poking around in the system. Thought I pushed ‘em back, but…” she shivered a little as she shook her head. The Oculus always  _ had _ been one step ahead, as little as she wanted to admit it.

“They knew my name,” Symmetra murmured, tipping her head slightly forward to press her lips against Sombra’s neck. It was so close and convenient, it seemed like it would be a waste  _ not _ to.

“Yeah, you mentioned that.” Sombra snaked her free hand backward, running her fingers through Symmetra’s hair and holding her head lightly in place with a sigh. It felt nice there, nestled in the crook of her neck - it was a bit of a turn-on, yeah, which she always liked, but there was another kind of way that it was just… nice. Comforting “What should  _ I _ call you,  _ amiga?” _

Symmetra hummed a laugh. “I believe you have answered your own question, there.”

Sombra snorted a laugh and rested her head back. She pulled her hand free and waved it, bringing up a few screens - tapping at the controls, she showed a map with a location being tracked on it. “Yep, we’re nice and airborne. In the home stretch, now…” she sighed with a grin.

Slowly, though, it shifted into a frown.

“Wait a second…”

Sombra tapped at the screen some more, zooming in on the map. Hissing, she swiped that to the side and frantically did something else. “Fuck, I should’ve been watching out for this the whole time - we gotta get up top,  _ amiga.” _

“What? Into the passenger cabin? Why, what is-”

“It’s the Oculus,” Sombra huffed, pushing herself away from the embrace. “Dammit, they can’t even give us like  _ ten minutes _ to ourselves? For fuck’s sake,” she grumbled, shaking her head. “They’ve hijacked the plane, changed the flight path. We’re not heading toward Hyderabad - I thought we might slip in here unnoticed, but I guess not.”

“You can fix it, however,” Symmetra nodded.

Sombra laughed. “Of course I can!”

 

\---

 

Erin was glad to have a job - anything bringing in some money was good, but at the same time being expected to stay off of her phone while the plane was in the air was pretty terrible. She didn’t listen, of course.

Something pulled her eyes away from the screen as the carpet a few feet away from her bulged and she heard some muffled words. Frowning, she slid forward off of her little seat - it collapsed back into the wall behind her, like all of the flight attendant’s stations. Carefully, she tugged up the corner of the carpet which was held down with velcro.

“Yes! I did it!” A hatch swung open and a dark-haired head with bright purple tips popped through it, grinning, and then frowned when it caught sight of her. “Oh. Or I guess this  _ chica _ did it. Whatever.” The person held out their hand with a grin. “Hey there. I’m Sombra.”

“...Erin,” Erin responded, taking the hand with a frown and shaking it. “Um, you’re not supposed to be down there.”

“Yeah, I know,  _ chica,” _ Sombra responded with a roll of her eyes. “Why do you think we’re coming  _ up _ , huh?”

Erin frowned at that. “Um. I don’t think that makes sense?”

“Well, think whatever you want,  _ chica,” _ Sombra muttered, pulling herself out of the hatch and then turning around to help another woman out as well. She shut the hatch and pressed the carpet back into place with her foot.

“Hello,” the other woman nodded. “I am Symmetra. You have a very nice aircraft.”

“Erin. Thanks. Um. It’s not mine.”

“Oh. Well, you work on a very nice aircraft. Now, a situation has arisen which requires our attention - you may return to your own activities.”

Sombra stood, rubbing at her forehead with her fingertips. “ _ Dios mio,” _ she muttered under her breath, “I’m gonna need a lot of booze in this fuckin’ paradise,  _ amigo.” _ With a grunt, she gestured Symmetra forward and then started to walk the cabin’s central aisle.

“Oh, we are leaving now. Have a good day, Erin.” Symmetra smiled, bowed her head, and turned to follow the hacker.

“Um.” Erin waved hesitantly. “Thanks? You too.” Then she pulled her seat out of the wall, sat down again with a sigh, and went back to texting her mom. “ _ So you’ll never believe what just happened…” _

As they walked down the aisle, people looked at them. The ceiling was close overhead, and Symmetra could not help but brush up against elbows and shoulders and arms and  _ people _ as she walked. People turned and looked at her, a hundred pairs of eyes and it made her feel intensely uncomfortable. Every one of them was staring, judging, they could all tell, they all  _ knew _ somehow. She never managed to know a thing when she looked at a person, but all of  _ them _ could, and they knew her.

She needed to throw them off, needed to cover up the truth and hide it behind some ruse. It had never been one of her strengths, exactly - blending in in public, keeping the eyes off of her - but it was a necessity.

She cleared her throat swiftly, her voice coming out a little bit higher-pitched than she intended. “W- we are… the maintenance inspectors of this aircraft!” she announced, nodding her head. “A… a maintenance issue has arisen.” She frowned a little, uneasily.  _ That is perhaps an insufficient explanation. _ “We are inspecting it.”

The crowd of people just looked blankly back from their aircraft seats.

“Damn  _ chica,” _ Sombra muttered through a smirk, “they should clear some space for you on Broadway.”

“Acting has never been my strong suit,” she protested in hissed and frantic whispers as hot prickles roamed her scalp, “I would have thought as much to be self-evident!”

Sombra snickered and shook her head. “Listen - here, I’m gonna let you in on a secret. Ninety-nine percent of the people you see? They’re idiots. They’ve barely even got their eyes open, I mean -  _ chica _ , I’m a bright purple  _ latina _ with circuits all over me,  _ plus _ I’m hotter than  _ diablo _ and  _ still _ people don’t fuckin’ notice me half the time.”

“Are you certain?” Symmetra swallowed heavily, dry-mouthed, eyes flickering nervously from face to face. Every one of them knew her - they always did, they must. They knew who and what she was. “I-it does not seem to be the case.”

“Here, I’ll prove it,” Sombra muttered and then tapped a random seated person on the shoulder. “Hey there.”

The guy turned around to look up at her uncertainly, then blinked and glanced over to the empty seat two over from him. “Oh, sorry, I’m blocking your seat.” He pulled his knees to the side to let her pass.

She snickered and just kept walking, leaving the man in confusion. “See? Dumbass didn’t even know who was sitting next to him.”

Symmetra’s eyes returned to that empty seat. The man had pulled out a magazine. He didn’t even watch them leave. Looking around now, she saw every set of eyes that  _ didn’t _ glance her way - every pair fixed on the screen in front of them or cast out of the windows.

“Clearly, you have much to teach,” she murmured as her tension eased - some, at least - and Sombra laughed.

“Oh, don’t worry,” the hacker nudged back with her elbow, “there’ll be  _ plenty _ of time for that.”

When they got up toward the cabin, there was a pair of curtains separating it from the rest of the airplane’s interior, just as there had been at the back. They stepped through the curtains, and then the flight attendant there stopped them. “Ma’am, please return to your seats - you can’t be up here.”

Sombra turned in confusion to Symmetra, confusion which quickly spread. Their eyes searched each other’s - Symmetra didn’t know  _ what _ Sombra was confused about, and that confused  _ her _ in turn. The hacker tipped her head toward the man. Symmetra raised her eyebrows.

“...is he talking to you?” Sombra raised an eyebrow. “I mean, he said ma’am. Couldn’t be me, but like…  _ you’re _ obviously not a ma’am. Obviously there’s a problem here, right? And we gotta sort it out.”

“Please, just-” the flight attendant started again as Sombra gestured with her head again, more firmly, crossing her arms and widening her eyes. “You need to return to your seats.”

“We- I mean, he keeps  _ telling _ us we gotta  _ leave _ ,  _ chica,” _ Sombra jerked her head toward the man seemingly randomly as she spoke, and it only confused Symmetra more. If they were meant to leave, why were they not leaving? Her brows started to pull in tight, she recoiled slightly in her total lack of comprehension but Sombra kept talking. “I just  _ mean  _ that, we gotta- oh for fuck’s sake never mind,” Sombra sighed and grabbed Symmetra’s prosthetic hand, placing it on the man’s forehead.

He blinked and crossed his arms, evidently done with upkeeping the company image. “Seats. Now.”

Sombra groaned. “ _ Chica _ , would you just-” she waved her hands desperately toward the man.

“Oh!” Symmetra laughed briefly, “oh, I understand.” She triggered her energy drain and the man slumped to the ground as Symmetra giggled lightly. “I did not know what your head-nods meant!”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Sombra shook her head with a sighed chuckle. “C’mon, we got shit to do. How long’s he gonna be out?”

Symmetra shrugged. “Six hours, probably? Give or take, it is not an exact science.”

“Cool, cool, gives us plenty of time to land and be gone” Sombra placed her hand against the cockpit door and it swung open, locks clicking at her touch.

There were no pilots, of course, but computer panels dotted every wall and the ceiling as well. “Cool,” Sombra shut the door behind her. “Wish there was a window in here like they used to have, but hey, this works. Try not to get too bored, sorry. Now, we just gotta…” she trailed off and dropped to the ground, flipping onto her back and popping a panel off of the wall.

She pulled herself halfway into the hole and dark mutters in Spanish started to emanate from the space. There were a few sparking sounds and more than one shout, which Symmetra knew nothing about. All she could see was a pair of legging-wrapped legs wriggling slightly, the way they always seemed to. Sombra never seemed to quite sit still unless she was at a computer. Little movements came constantly, a little dance that drew Symmetra in.

“Hey  _ chica.  _ You staring at me creepily out there?”

Symmetra recoiled, wide-eyed. “What? No!” Her protests were entirely unconvincing.

Sombra’s snicker floated out of the hole. “Good. Keep staring, I like it.”

With a faint smile, Symmetra knelt down. “In that case, I suppose I will begin to do so.”

“Nice save,  _ amiga. _ Totally believe you.”

A few more moments of mutters and sparking noises.

“...I was already looking at you,” Symmetra confessed, blushing lightly.

Sombra laughed. “Yeah, I- I know,  _ chica. _ It’s good, I like it. Just no touching, alright?” She paused for a second. “Not right now at least. Gotta concentrate - gimme a minute first.”

Symmetra nodded with a smile, sitting back and leaning against the wall, curling her legs in front of herself. “I like watching you work. It is quite relaxing.”

“Well, good,” Sombra chuckled the words, but hissed slightly as a spark burned her skin. “You just keep on relaxing out there,  _ chica. _ Next bit’s all on you, so if you gotta prepare or anything, uh… get on that. I was kinda hoping we could slip past the Oculus and maybe get to Hyderabad unseen, be able to take our time, but…” she trailed off into a sigh.  _ That was never happening. They’re always a step ahead. Only means I gotta be two. _

“I know not what preparations need be made; how could I when I do not know what our visit will entail?” Symmetra frowned slightly.

“Hey, me neither,  _ chica!  _ Just uh, make sure your arm’s all good and we should be fine. I know only Architechs can make it into this place, and that’s even without the security systems.”

Symmetra nodded with a faint smile. “Vishkar always had wonderful security systems.”

Sombra snorted as she continued to work on redirecting the plane. It seemed like they’d actually corrupted its GPS - it  _ thought _ it was going the right way, it was just being fed incorrect information to start with, but they’d altered the flight plans so air traffic control wouldn’t pitch a fit.  _ I hope I don’t have to fly this shit in by hand. That’d be so boring. _  “Yeah, wonderful is one word. Shred you to pieces would be another one.”

“That is four words.”

“I know it’s four words  _ chica! _ I can count!”

Symmetra giggled softly. “I know. You are quite easy to fool, you know. I only mean it in a friendly way, of course,” she assured, nodding lightly. She’d been told that that was a bonding activity.

Sombra sighed, unable to wipe the massive grin off of her lips but glad that the panel she was inside would hide it from view. “You… when I get out there,  _ chica _ , I’m gonna…”

Symmetra raised her eyebrows slightly, waiting for the sentence to finish, but it didn’t seem to. “...yes?” she prompted, smirking. “You’re going to  _ what,  _ exactly?”

“Ugh shut up  _ amiga _ you’re too cute to even pretend to threaten. It’d be like threatening a kitten or some shit - what’m I, a monster?”

“You said once that you had a reputation as a cold-hearted gangster to uphold,” Symmetra grinned, leaning forward toward those black and purple leggings. “I must inform you once more, you are  _ still  _ doing a very poor job.” It had been a minute. She reached out and tickled at Sombra’s knees.

“Gah!  _ Chica, _ don’t do that shit!” Sombra yelped, yanking her legs away from the touch. Meanwhile, she pulled a pair of wires out of the back of a box, stripping the insulator off and twisting them together. She frowned. She knew that if she told Symmetra to not do something, she just flat-out would not do it. Ever, maybe. “Okay, actually,  _ do _ do that shit. Just maybe not when I’m trying to gain control over the plane we’re flying in, yeah?”

“It had been a minute,” Symmetra protested with a light frown. She’d misunderstood. It always felt like failure.

“Yeah, it- okay I shoulda said longer, but still. Context and stuff, y’know?”

“Context,” Symmetra repeated with a grimace and a sigh. Everyone considered it an explanation, or some helpful piece of advice - but then, when she actually  _ asked _ for context, they were unable to provide. 

When was a teasing joke appropriate, and how teasing should they be made? Well, it depends. When was correction inappropriate? Well, it depends. When was laughter to be expected, regardless of humour? Well, it depends. When was this, or that, or the other? It depends.

Symmetra  _ hated  _ context. It evaded and avoided her, and she would have been all too happy to return the gesture - save for the fact that other people seemed to thrive on it, and she did need to associate with other people. Generally, she considered that an unfortunate fact.

However, she was quickly finding an exception to that generality. There were some people, at least - one in particular - who she found she could quite appreciate associating with. She sighed lightly as Sombra’s legs twisted and her hips swiveled, as she tugged and poked at things buried deep within the aircraft. She just sat and watched and smiled for a while.

_ “Amiga?  _ You still alive out there?”

“I have not perished,” Symmetra murmured. “I like your movements.”

“...the second I get done with this shit, I am making the _ most  _ out of that locked door,  _ chica. _ ”

Symmetra chuckled. “We certainly have time - and my ribs are much better now than they were. I should send Hawk-i my regards.”

Sombra snorted. “Yeah, well, wait until we’re done first. Then you can  _ really _ thank him.”

“Oh, are you that skilled, then?” Symmetra hummed brightly. “Delightful, I anticipate it.”

“...that’s the weirdest way anyone’s ever said that to me? But I love it. Don’t ever change,  _ chica.” _ Sombra slapped a supporting brace which had the balls to defy her and be in the way, but it refused to budge, being riveted in place. With a little groan, she pulled herself in a little deeper and twisted her arm around to try to get her hand around to the other side of the small girder.

Symmetra tipped her head to the side a bit. “An unlikelihood to say the least.” Surely, some change would occur - aging, for instance, could not be halted. Symmetra knew, thus, that Sombra could not have been talking about that. She had succeeded at context and grinned, pleased at the fact.

Then her eyes fell to those bright leggings again. “Please tell me the moment you are finished working in there. I am imagining…  _ many _ possibilities for this position. I would like to act on a few, at least.” Her heartbeat quickened a little with the thoughts - geometry was  _ always _ fun, and no less so when it was the geometry of bodies in passion. Indeed, perhaps even moreso.

Sombra shivered a little. “ _Chica,_ you-” she swallowed, more dry-mouthed than she’d admit. “That sounds like a good plan. Please don’t say it in any more detail because I _really_ gotta concentrate - but please, _please_ , for the love of _god_ _amiga_ you keep thinking up those ideas. And if you are teasing me with this shit I will shoot you. And not in a fun way.”

“Is there a  _ fun _ way to shoot someone?” Symmetra inquired idly, studying the situation and the angles it would permit, warming rapidly.

“Play your cards right and find out. Now I-” Sombra groaned, grinding her teeth as something she hadn’t noticed poked sharply into the back of her hand. “Ugh, I really wanna keep talking about this shit, but I really  _ do _ gotta concentrate, so gimme a few minutes of silence, okay? Just focus on your little plans there…”

Symmetra nodded with a hum and dedicated herself more thoroughly to her task. Warmth started to give way to little electric shivers which only sparked new ideas and plans in her mind.

Sombra  _ tried _ not to think about it too much. She failed miserably, but she definitely  _ tried _ , and she was sure she’d eventually manage to get this plane turned around, even with distractions.  _ On the upside, _ she grinned in the small, dark, wire-entangled space,  _ every minute we fly the wrong way is one more minute we’ll have to ourselves before we land…  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like this chapter overall, but not as much as several of the others. It's a little more subtle to me, which is fine, but does mean it also kind of feels like filler to me sometimes? However, I think it's important: characterization, both individual and as a pair, along with some backstory and exposition. Gotta lampshade somewhere, am I right? Comfort is an odd thing. It can change how you act, and sometimes in inopportune ways. Discomfort as well. Basically, everything can suck.
> 
> Definitely a couple of good moments in here though, I think - couple of cute interactions, couple of laughs. Little bit of levity before the world ends, right? :D
> 
> I'd like to thank you all so much for all of the kudos, the comments, the bookmarks, even just for _reading_. Things have been a little inconsistent for me lately, the past few weeks, but seeing all of those numbers tick higher and knowing that behind each one is one of you beautiful people, really makes my day. You're all wonderful, every one of you, and I want to thank you so much for it! :D
> 
> Come on back next time when the plane lands and the ladies go get some food and a place to stay for the night. Sombra may or may not realize something that scares the shit out of her. (Spoiler alert: she definitely _does_ ) Oculus has a thing or two up their collective sleeves - but so does Sombra. As it turns out, so does somebody else entirely...


	12. Landing Strip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erin, the flight attendant, makes the mistake of opening the wrong door at the wrong time. Turns out, Sombra forgot to lock it behind her - but whatever, she doesn't actually care. She delays the plane landing a little longer so she can spend some more alone time with Symmetra. When they make it to the ground, they grab some food and a place to stay for the night, but Sombra isn't exactly reassured entirely. She realizes a few things, all of which scare her - and the Oculus has ways of intruding just about everywhere, it seems... but they're not alone. A third player reveals themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: uh, nothing in particular. Some worries on Sombra's part, some internal conflict on Symmetra's, but nothing huge. Inexplicit sexual descriptions - or at least, I'd say they're inexplicit?

Erin frowned a little as she glanced at her phone. The flight was supposed to have landed over two hours ago. She picked up the flight attendant service phone off of the wall and called up to Dave who was stationed at the front.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang. After a couple dozen rings she hung up with a sigh and rolled her eyes. “Probably asleep again,” she muttered, shaking her head.

The folding seat retracted into the wall as Erin stood and started to make her way down the aisle. She smiled to everyone who looked at her, and informed one old man that there was no tomato juice and he’d just need to wait until the plane landed. Somebody asked why the flight was taking so long and she replied, with a smile, that it was the air currents. She didn’t actually know if  _ there  _ were air currents, but it sounded right.

Sure enough, Dave was asleep, curled up in the corner. Erin rolled her eyes with a sigh and nudged him with her foot but he didn’t even make a sound. She crouched down with a frown - he was still breathing, though. Just a heavy sleeper, apparently.

The intercom crackled to life and Erin looked up with a raised eyebrow.

“ _ Hola _ ,  _ amigos  _ and _ amigas!  _ This is Sombra, your pilot, speaking!”

Erin blinked in confusion. They didn’t have a pilot, the plane was automated. The voice continued, however. 

“We’ve had an unexpected delay due to a buncha shit I’m not gonna go into, and now we’re- ah!” The voice got a little softer, as if the speaker had turned away from the microphone. “ _ Chica,  _ c’mon, I’m addressing people! You gotta gimme a minute, and then we can get ba-aaahh okay yeah forget what I was saying, keep doing that.”

There was a sound like a muffled giggle over the intercom and Sombra cleared her throat. When she spoke again, her voice was a little strained. “O-okay folks, anyway, like I said, we go-oooot delayed, mm! And uh- yeah we’re back on track though now. We’ll be landing in like fffffive minutes.”

A yelp of some sort that sounded like Sombra’s voice, and then indistinct heated murmurs.

“Yeah never mind - like twenty minutes. Then we’ll land.”

The intercom cut off to the sound of giggling and muttered swears in Spanish - or at least, Erin was pretty sure it was swears, she didn’t actually speak the language really. It was weird, though, because even after the speakers turned off she swore she could still hear the noises, just more softly.

No, she  _ definitely _ could. She leaned over toward the door into the electronics bay - there were voices in there! That shouldn’t be. The door was supposed to be locked.

Erin twisted the knob and pulled the door open, and immediately blushed at the sight which greeted her. The two women who had come up from the baggage compartment were splayed out on the floor, naked, the purple-haired one laid back and holding a handful of the other one’s hair, keeping her head tight in between her legs. Their clothing was all neatly folded off to one side.

“Um.” Erin blinked, blushing furiously. “UM!”

Sombra tugged Symmetra’s head away from herself just a little - Symmetra whined softly but let it happen, although she didn’t stop probing around with a convenient little hard-light construct that brought goosebumps to Sombra’s arms. She had to appreciate her  _ chica’s _ dedication.

“Oh hey, it’s you again,” Sombra grinned, looking up and back at Erin. She looked upside-down, and a lot redder in the face than last time they’d met. Sombra bit her lips together and arched her back as Symmetra hit a particularly sensitive spot with the little gently-humming toy, and she let go of her handful of hair. Symmetra happily collapsed forward again with a moan that she muffled against flesh.

“Okay, Erin right?” Sombra raised an eyebrow and dragged her fingernails up her own ribs with a sigh as Erin nodded. “Cool, Erin - yyyyeah, so I’m gonna need you to shut that door. Either be in here or out there, I don’t give a shit: you can join in if you want but I’m not fucking holding my voice anymore so you’ve got like  _ ten _ seconds to decide and shut the door.”

“Um, you’re, um, not supposed to be in here!” Erin protested, shifting uncomfortably.

“Yeah, well, neither are y- shit  _ chica _ that-” Sombra cut off with a breathless gasp, groaning as her eyes rolled back in her head and her fingers spasmed against the floor next to her. “Like six seconds, Erin! C’mon girl.”

With a squeak, Erin jumped out of the room and slammed the door shut. There was a rough shout the instant it was closed, and a long string of loud curses in Spanish.

“This is all your fault, Dave!” Erin squeaked at her co-worker, curled up and taking a nap. “If I get fired it’s all your fault!”

 

\---

 

The plane set down without further incident, and Erin had almost even managed to get her blush to subside. People came from off of the plane to help everyone who needed it - wheelchairs and that sort of thing, Erin gave them all strained smiles. As people started to get out of their seats, she smiled awkwardly and waved and shook the hands of everybody who decided they needed to shake a hand - and then everybody was gone.

The door squeaked open and Sombra stepped out, clothed again, fanning at herself with one hand and holding Symmetra’s hand with the other. “Whoo! Wow, gets kinda hot in there, eh?” Symmetra nodded with a grin.

“Hey, thanks Erin,” Sombra grinned and held out a hand to shake. Erin didn’t take it, and blushed heavily, and Sombra snickered. “Man, you’re a hoot - hey, you’re not gonna tell anybody about this, right? I mean, it’d probably look pretty bad for you if you did -  _ chica _ like you letting a  _ chica _ like me onto her plane and into the cockpit and all. Plus like, at least  _ half _ of what we did in there was probably illegal given where we were flying at the time.”

“Mm, I believe airways are considered similarly to international waters when it comes to matters of law,” Symmetra murmured softly and Sombra nodded.

“Ah, yeah, good point  _ amiga -  _ okay, never mind, just the hacking shit was illegal but I was only undoing other shit anyway an- you know what, never mind.” Sombra pressed fingertips to her forehead briefly and shook her head. “Point is, you’re not gonna say shit to anyone, right?”

Erin shook her head swiftly, lips clamped tightly together, cheeks bright red.

“Good. And if that guy there tries to say anything, you’ll just mention that he was asleep the whole time, right?”

Erin nodded.

Sombra grinned. “Beautiful,  _ chica -  _ there’s a video of him sleeping on your phone if you need it, and I also sent you a couple grand. And some nudes. Don’t know whose, but I thought you might like ‘em.” She rolled a shoulder in an easy shrug and started to walk back down the aisle, holding Symmetra’s hand a little tighter. “C’mon  _ amiga, _ we got shit to do.”

They made their way back through the baggage compartment to avoid notice, and left through the fence again. Symmetra shivered slightly in the warm, humid air - the skyscrapers that lit the dark sky looked reminiscent, but unfamiliar.  _ Home. _

She followed closely behind Sombra in the darkness - her implant readily measured the physical space and notified her of barriers, but it wasn’t quite the same as truly  _ seeing. _ “How are you capable of such sure-footedness in such low light?”

Sombra snickered, turning and grinning back - her eyes were glowing brightly, purple in the night. “C’mon, you thought I got all these wires and the claws and shit, and still had boring old  _ normal _ eyes? I got night vision, electromagnetic, thermal - all the fun toys.” She snickered and stepped closer, nudging Symmetra with her elbow. “Though I gotta say,  _ you _ got some pretty fun toys too. Nice move back there in the cockpit.”

Symmetra grinned. “An old trick, but a reliable one - the lack of a person should never necessitate the lack of pleasure.”

With a laugh, Sombra tugged her along again. “Damn if that ain’t a line right out of my book,  _ amiga! _ Okay, now, we’re gonna need to get a car - preferably a jeep or some shit. Off-road’s better. Oculus didn’t pull anything else with the plane so they might’ve bought the fake trail I laid - but they did track us to the airport in the first place. They’ll notice when the plane doesn’t land where they were trying to misdirect it. I’m just thinking out loud, here.”

“Of course,” Symmetra nodded with a frown. “So we must keep moving? It has been many hours since I’ve last eaten. Three days since I last slept fully, with the exception of the brief nap on the drive to the airport. I must admit to some weariness. My brain does not feel… optimal.”

“Yeah, you and me both,  _ chica, _ and that’s no good. We’re gonna need to be on top of our game, _ ”  _ Sombra murmured, rubbing at her forehead. They had a ways in front of them still, a few hours at least - and then probably some of the more complicated stuff that either of them would ever get up to. She sighed heavily, unease twisting in her gut. There was something off about this, about all of it - Oculus could have tried to just  _ crash _ the plane rather than misdirect it. What game were they playing?

“It-” Sombra started and then cut herself off with a grunt. “Damn. Okay, we can uh… okay, I got a plan.”

“You always seem to have a plan,” Symmetra smirked.

“Yeah well they rarely work, so take that into account,” Sombra chuckled. “But it means we should be able to find somewhere for the night. We’ll get some food, a good night’s rest - we really gotta be running on all cylinders to get into Moksha.”

Symmetra nodded with a hum, wishing again that she had a more specific idea of what she was meant to be countering or encountering once they arrived on the site. Planning ahead of time was preferable to improvisation, although she trusted her skills in either arena. They would be safe. She would ensure it.

“Three days? Really?”

The question shook Symmetra from considerations - offence as opposed to defence when it came to likely Vishkar security systems. “Hmm? Oh, the sleeplessness? I was…” she trailed off with a frown. She knew quite clearly  _ what _ had happened, but still wasn’t decided on  _ why. _

Luckily, that was not what had been asked. “I was quite distraught to be on the streets again and away from you. My thoughts drifted often to painful realms, and my body was quite agonized by it all. It made for difficult sleep. I only managed it once in the week we were parted. I spent most of my time either sobbing or in a hollow haze of sorts, yes.”

Sombra stopped abruptly, turning slowly to face Symmetra as something cold settled in her gut and gradually spread. She could hardly even half- _ remember _ the week they’d spent apart, but she didn’t recall much sleeping either. It was still a bit of a shock to hear it from her  _ chica _ , though - not to mention the  _ way _ she said it, so plainly. Despite the darkness, Sombra could easily see the gentle smile on Symmetra’s face. Her own eyes shone purple in the darkness, and not just because of the cybernetic enhancements. Symmetra’s hand squeezed at hers.

“ _ Amiga,  _ I-” her voice choked off and she cleared it. “That- wow, uh… I mean, I don’t know what to say to that.”

“What need is there to say anything?” Symmetra shrugged with a slight shake of her head. “It is a fact only of the past, no longer worth consideration - no comment need be made.” She leaned forward slightly to kiss Sombra’s cheek. “Let us go find food. I’m quite hungry.”

As she leaned away, though, she noticed that her lips were wet - when she licked them, they tasted salty. Tears. She didn’t know what that meant, but Sombra started to lead the way again.

“Yeah, uh,” she coughed, “there’s a place this way. Should have something tasty - and it’s right across from a hotel. I’ve already got us reservations, and I think I’ve managed some transit for tomorrow. Little old but it should work.”

Symmetra nodded, but her thoughts pulled back in confusion to the time they’d spent apart. She’d thought of fairly little during it, for the majority - had been too distraught for thoughts to really progress correctly. Her mind had only swirled and orbited, pain upon pain, but thinking about it now she wasn’t certain what exactly had  _ caused  _ it.

She’d been on the streets before. Yes, she thought at the time - incorrectly, it was nice to note - that she’d been betrayed yet again. Even that, though, didn’t account for the pain: she thought she’d been betrayed  _ yet again. _ Not for the first time. Not for the worst time. So why had it hurt so very much more?

Even the loss of Vishkar itself hadn’t set her so far back in her capabilities. The thought brought a wave of something that gripped tightly at her throat and burned in her eyes, and pulled her frown deeper.

It wasn’t only the loss of security and comfort that Sombra’s home had afforded. It couldn’t have been. Nor could it be explained by the loss of any ability, because Sombra had never provided her with any increased abilities. Access to new venues and skills by proxy, certainly, but not ones that seemed particularly useful to her goals - not at the time, at least. Now, knowing about Moksha, things were perhaps different, but she had not  _ known _ at the time. Sombra had mentioned it but Symmetra had thought it only to be one more lie at first.

What, then? Symmetra wracked her brain but was offered no more satisfactory explanation. Not comfort, not security, not ability - what else was there? A thought occurred to her, but it could not possibly be the case. Everyone had always told her she could not love.

_ “Well, then they’re idiots.” _

_ “Who, everyone?” _

_ “Yup!” _

Symmetra shivered. It was twice that the exchange had run through her mind that way. She swallowed heavily and squeezed at Sombra’s hand. Food. Things would be better with food and rest.

Sombra didn’t know what to make of it. Of anything, really. She didn’t want to think about it because she knew it wouldn’t help - the last time she’d tried, she’d ended up in bars for a week. Hawk-i would probably smack her when he noticed the inevitable liver damage.  _ Huh. Guess I’ll never see him again, actually. Weird. _

It was better just to think about tonight and tomorrow. When she tried to go further back than that, or further forward, things got all weird and wobbly. She couldn’t trust her thoughts to stay straight and not get all fucked up. They needed to be on top of their game, tomorrow - both of them.

Presuming they survived the night, that was.

...but they’d survived the plane ride…

 

\---

 

Pizza. Sombra couldn’t wipe the grin off of her face. Halfway around the planet in India and she still managed to find pizza. She took a pair of slices and laid them together with the toppings in the middle - making a thick pizza sandwich, give or take - and took a big huge bite with an obscene noise.

Symmetra decided to go piece-by-piece, but with no less gusto. A bit more precision, perhaps, but she was absolutely famished and deeply enjoyed the opportunity to eat. Food was fairly scarce on the streets. “I admit,” she swallowed a mouthful with a noise, “I was surprised to see you purchasing this meal rather than stealing it.”

“What?!” Sombra recoiled in fake outrage. “ _ Chica, _ this shit is a  _ masterpiece! _ They deserve real money for it!” She snickered, shrugging. “Plus I mean, I’m either gonna be dead or orbital by the end of tomorrow, so what’s the point of the money, right? Realized a long time ago that all the cash in the world would never get me out of this hole.”

Symmetra nodded with a hum, frowning slightly. “You seem calm. I- my assessments tend to be inaccurate, but would people not generally be more upset when so much is at stake?”

Sombra snorted into her pizza. “I mean, sure, but it’s not like I can do shit about it. Yeah, I’m nervous, I guess, but…” she trailed off for a moment, trying to put it into words. She sighed, looking off into the distance and shrugging. “I dunno. Been on the run a lot, been on the wrong end of a lot of guns, watched my family get ripped up when I was just a little  _ chiquita. _ Guess after getting enough of that kinda shit you don’t get too upset over things, y’know?”

“Hmm.” Symmetra frowned. She couldn’t say she disagreed with the factuality of that statement, and she agreed with the mindset as well - it quite closely mirrored her own. Although it did seem to contrast with some facts. “You seemed quite distraught when you thought I was in danger.”

Sombra felt like her stomach fell out of her halfway through a bite of pizza. She covered it by chewing slowly and trying to focus on the pineapple rather than the fear, on the hot cheese instead of the feelings. It didn’t work, but she didn’t cry, so that was cool.

“Yeah, well,” she shrugged, smirking once she regained control over her face and everything. “Y’know, you were all helpless and shit so I felt like I had to protect you.”

“I’m hardly helpless,” Symmetra frowned. “In fact I disabled an Oculus agent and fled quite successfully in order to return to your home.”

“I-” Sombra stammered, “well, yeah. But, I mean, I didn’t know that at the time, right?”

“Mm. So you don’t think I’m helpless now?”

Sombra blinked a few times, looking like she might say something for a moment - but then she snickered and shook her head with a grin. “Ah,  _ chica _ , you’re funny.” She returned to her pizza, although her appetite had pretty much disappeared.

Symmetra had heard her say that enough to know that it usually meant “no”. Unfortunately, she didn’t exactly know what a “no”  _ meant _ in this situation. She just hummed as she returned to her food.

“Oh, fuck, hey, what the fuck am I doing?” Sombra looked around aghast and stood up. Symmetra moved to join her in confusion but the hacker held her down by a shoulder and then sat on her lap. “Such a dumbass - geeze, sorry  _ amiga, _ ” she muttered as she tapped at some controls. “I just gotta- one second here, sorry, I really should’ve thought of this before, I’m just- okay, there we go!”

Grinning triumphantly, Sombra plucked a purple hexagon from the air and tossed it forward where it splashed into a floating screen. Looney Tunes. Wile E. Coyote.

Symmetra sighed contentedly, wrapping an arm around Sombra’s waist as she rested her chin on the hacker’s shoulder for a moment before taking another bite of pizza. She smiled as the opening credits finished and the cartoon properly began.

“Thank you,” she murmured softly, planting a little kiss on the back of Sombra’s jaw. “I like this. I’ve missed it dearly.”

Sombra nodded with a smile that shuddered and shook as tears started to slide from her cheeks. She couldn’t trust her voice enough to say anything - she couldn’t even trust her face not to look all sad, but she didn’t give half a shit what anybody looking over thought. She just didn’t want to worry her  _ chica. _ That was all.

It didn’t take long for a combination of cartoons, pizza, and Symmetra’s embrace to wipe all the blank worry and fear from Sombra’s head. She started to actually relax, dabbing her cheeks dry under cover of wiping pizza sauce from her lips.

She  _ had _ been terrified when she’d thought Symmetra was in trouble. She’d been as scared as ever - the worst feelings in her life had all happened that week, concentrated toward the bookends definitely. Getting left. Fearing for Symmetra’s life.

Sombra wasn’t an idiot. She knew what it meant. It just scared the fuck out of her.

How was somebody like her supposed to  _ love? _ It didn’t fit right. Didn’t work with the lifestyle.

_ Whatever. Cartoons. Pizza. It’s all good, I got cartoons and pizza and a weird-ass chica…  _  everything wrenched in her again and she shook her head a little.  _ Fuck. Fuck it, fucking- _ Sombra clenched her jaw as her eyes started to tear up again and she leaned back a little harder against Symmetra. “H-hey Symmy?”

Symmetra raised her eyebrows, tightening her grip a little with a smile. “I like that moniker. It’s cute.”

“Heh, thanks,” Sombra whispered hoarsely, letting her eyes slide closed. “I uh… can I say something?”

“Of course.”

“I- I, uh…” Sombra’s lips and her confidence wavered and she did what she always did. She chuckled. “I missed this too.”  _ I love you. Fuck. Fuck it all, for fuck’s fucking sake, I’m fucked. I’m so fucking fuckingly fucked. _

Oblivious to her conflict, Symmetra just squeezed Sombra tighter. The coyote was donning some sort of absurd shoes that claimed to be jet-powered. “Those appear far more like rockets than jets,” Symmetra noted idly.

“Yeah!” Sombra laughed, laying an arm over Symmy’s and wiping the free-flowing tears from her cheeks. “That’s definitely the silly part of the cartoon, that they should’ve said rocket-powered tennis shoes instead of jet-powered.”  _ I love you. _ “You’re great,  _ chica.” _

Symmetra hugged her again. “You too.”

Sombra desperately tried to keep it from being too much, tried to reign it in and keep it under control and  _ not  _ cry. She didn’t succeed, definitely not at first, but she  _ tried. _ After a couple of cartoons she was a little more calm and her cheeks were dry.

_ Okay. After tomorrow… after tomorrow, nobody can take her away. After tomorrow I can’t lose her anymore - I can say it after tomorrow, it’ll all be fine after tomorrow. _

_ As long as I survive tomorrow. _

Her gut wrenched at the thought, but she really didn’t care about her own survival nearly as much as Symmy’s. Not even close.

It scared the fuck out of her.

 

\---

 

Sombra checked them in to the hotel - no need to actually go to the front desk when you can just add yourself in and get through the doors on your own. She snickered as she stroked at the lock and it popped open. “Man,  _ keycards? _ They gotta be fucking kidding us, right  _ amiga?” _

“An archaic technology fifty years ago,” Symmetra agreed in a heavy murmur. Food had perked her up at first, increased her energy levels, but without hunger gnawing at her gut it was much easier to give in to tiredness. Her eyes felt dim, every part of her body was so heavy. She yawned but didn’t even have the energy to make it a big yawn - just a deep inhalation through barely parted lips.

“Hey, don’t check out on me quite yet  _ amiga,” _ Sombra muttered as Sym rested her chin on the hacker’s shoulder. She pushed the door open and rubbed at her eyes. “Actually, fuck it, let’s shower and shit in the morning.”

“I hope you are not expecting us to partake of the latter together,” Symmetra giggled softly. “There is much I wish to share with you, but defecation is decidedly  _ not _ on the list.”

Sombra barked a laugh as she locked the door behind them. “Aww, now you got me all disappointed.” Symmetra giggled again - it was surely figurative speech, and Sombra’s grin and positive reaction seemed to bear that out. She was easier to understand than most, it seemed. 

The hacker glanced around in concern, unsure of how secure this place really was. It was best not to risk it. ”Hey uh… remember that little  _ amigo _ you showed me back home? You mind popping a few of those around the place?”

Symmetra raised her eyebrows curiously, wearied mind not easily parsing speech but Sombra mimed a small sphere and the Architech realized what she meant: the turrets. She nodded her head, open-mouthed, and then stepped to the door. She placed one on each side - Varuna and Vasatkara - then moved to the window and set one below the sill, which she named Manas. One, Nakṣatra, went just inside the bedroom door and another, Soma, below the bedroom window.

“Perfect,” Sombra mumbled, kissing Sym on the shoulder through her shirt as she tugged off her own leggings. “Now, not gonna lie, there’s a buncha shit I wanna do, but I think we gotta sleep. ‘Kay?”

“Yes, please,” Symmetra sighed, weariness numbing the slight but odd twistings in her gut. “I am quite looking forward to it,” she confirmed, stripping off her clothing and folding it, setting it neatly on the side table. She folded Sombra’s as well where it had been dropped haphazardly to the floor, and placed it alongside her own.

As she crawled into the bed, the sheets felt nice on her skin - but not nearly as nice as Sombra did. Symmetra snaked an arm under and wrapped a leg overtop of her as the hacker laid on her back, and hummed a light sigh, kissing her gently on the jaw. “Much better. So much better, thank you. Goodnight Sombra.”

“G’night, Symmy,” Sombra smiled, wrapping an arm around the Architech’s back and squeezing tight.  _ I love you.  _ “See you in the morning.” Oso was firmly wedged in her other arm. Oso on one side, Sym on the other - Sombra didn’t last five minutes before she was unconscious. Just enough time to hear Symmetra start to snore softly, and need to wipe a few tears from one of her own cheeks.

 

\---

 

“You’re certain?”

“Absolutely.”

“ _ Absolutely?” _

“Yes.”

“Will you stake your life on it? Because that is, in fact, what you are doing - and more.”

“Without hesitation. If you’d prefer, I will fire the missile myself.”

“No, you won’t.”

The darkened rooftop was lit abruptly as a rocket leapt from its launcher; just briefly illuminating the two figures standing there - one in a trenchcoat with a metal hand gleaming in the light and the other dressed head-to-toe in black, body armour over skintight fabric, even their face covered.

The missile streaked across the street and slammed into the side of the hotel, immediately ripping to pieces the room that had been registered to Davis Emerson - a nonsense name and a person who did not exist; the organization knew that the true registrant was Sombra.

“If you were incorrect,” the trenchcoated figure hummed easily in the darkness, pressing the rocket launcher into the other person’s hands, “if they  _ were _ in that room, you will be the next to run the gauntlet. It is  _ important  _ that they think they’re not followed but it is  _ vital _ that they survive.”

“With all due respect,” the black-clad figure responded softly as shrieking sirens split the night amid the crackling of flames and the screams of citizens on the street below, “I  _ do _ understand what is at risk here. Neither Sombra, nor Satya, were in that room.”

“Good.” The hat over the trenchcoat bobbed in a nod, then twisted sharply to the side. “What’s-”

Gunshots rang out; the black-clad figure, almost invisible in the darkness, dropped the launcher and snapped their assault rifle to the ready, loosing off shots in return. The trenchcoated person swirled away and ducked behind a low outcropping as a half-dozen omnics marched across the rooftop towards them. Two of them fell to the black armoured soldier’s shots, then a third, before one of them managed to land a hit on the soldier’s leg. Another one almost simultaneously shot the falling figure in the head. Advantages of being linked through an infranet.

Wordlessly, soundlessly, the omnics swept around in a loose flank to where the trenchoated figure had gone. They weren’t there anymore. The omnics gathered at the rooftop’s edge, communicating with no noise - the only indication was a flickering light on each of their heads. As one, they moved to gather their fallen comrades and the body of the hostile they’d dispatched, and left into the night.

On a different rooftop, watching the scene barely lit by the flickering flames of the hotel on fire across the street, the trenchoated figure ground their teeth. “God-programs have caught on,” they murmured over their radio, metal hand gleaming in the light of the fire. “Take appropriate measures. Keep in mind - they’re following  _ us _ , not  _ them. _ Distract the tin cans. Any cost. After we take Moksha they’ll be powerless. Tomorrow, comrades, we turn the key. Tomorrow we begin a new age.”

They spun on heel, long coat swirling around them as they stalked away and faded back into the night. The world below was oblivious to it all, to everything except for what would be claimed as a gas leak causing an explosion in a hotel in Hyderabad. The rest of night’s events would go unknown.

 

\---

 

Symmetra was shaken from her sleep in panic by an explosion. She gasped and shifted to get up from the bed, but Sombra’s arm tightened around her and held her there.

“Hey, relax  _ chica,” _ Sombra kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t worry, we got this under control. Fake hotel room, y’know? Looks like the Oculus weren’t too happy about us getting here - but hey, at least this should mean we’re in the clear, right?” She grinned, wrapping her arms tighter around the Architech - one of her fingers traced at a still-bumpy and healing scar for a second, along one of her ribs, but then stopped. “They’re not gonna be chasing crispy corpses.”

“Of course,” Symmetra nodded, frowning and trying to slow her breathing from panicked levels. “Of course, it- I think I would have liked to be informed of the plan beforehand.”

Sombra, surprisingly, didn’t chuckle at that. She just nodded instead. “Yeah, that’s… that’s fair,  _ amiga. _ I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t know- they were following us somehow. Didn’t seem like it was purely digital, they knew a little too much, so I thought they must have some kind of analog surveillance going on. I couldn’t say anything in case they were listening.”

“That makes sense,” Symmetra nodded softly and snuggled down into the bed. Her hand stroked fingers idly through Sombra’s slightly-tangled hair, and she smiled as she gently worked out the knots. “We should shower in the morning. I would like to wash your hair.”

Sombra giggled, nuzzling her face in closer to Symmy. “That sounds great,  _ chica,” I love you, “ _ you’re pretty cute, you know?”

“Mm, you’ve told me as much,” Symmetra confirmed softly. She twisted and kissed Sombra on the forehead. “You’re the only one ever to do so, since my mother when I was a very small child.”

Sombra frowned and hugged her tighter, protectively, pulling Oso against Sym’s far side. “Damn,  _ amiga, _ ” she murmured, “there’ve been some shitty people in your life. If we were gonna be here longer than another day I’d start asking for their names so I could punch ‘em.”

Symmetra laughed lightly. “You would search down and punch every person who didn’t tell me I was cute?”

“Damn fucking straight I would,  _ chica,” _ Sombra nodded with a grin. “Hell, if I can figure out a way to punch ‘em from space, I’ll  _ still _ do it.”

The Architech’s hand continued to stroke idly through hair and along Sombra’s shoulder, her heart swelling with a confusing rush of emotions. She felt compelled to speak, but nothing she thought to say seemed to suffice. It was an odd situation, one she’d encountered before but never quite in this sense; it felt different, somehow.

“Thank you,” Symmetra eventually murmured, unable to settle on anything better. It didn’t quite relieve the pressure, but it was something nice to say at least. “Thank you for all of it. For… being different.” That felt a little better. Still not quite right, but closer at least.

Sombra snickered softly. “You too, Symmy.”  _ I love you.  _ “Now c’mon, let’s go back to bed. I know you’re gonna wake me up at some ungodly hour and I need my beauty rest.”

“If you get any more beautiful,” Symmetra smiled, “I may simply be unable to cope.”

Sombra’s eyes widened a little. It didn’t sound like a joke at all - not even for Sym, not even one of her jokes.

It wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Fuck. Fuck it all, for fuck’s fucking sake, I’m fucked. I’m so fucking fuckingly fucked." Oh Sombra, but you are so eloquent. Poets wish they were as effective at communicating their emotions as you are. :D
> 
> Omnics and Oculus and Lesbians, oh my! Hehe. But, yup, there's the chapter - hopefully you folks like it! I've recently come to realize that people might've been looking for some more explicit sexual stuff than this, and I'm on that - I've got a couple of tie-ins planned, which I'll be getting on writing soon!
> 
> I liked this one, though. Sombra's internal conflict is pretty compelling to me, because it's rough to realize that sort of stuff sometimes and I'd imagine it's only worse for her. Symmetra's as well, because sometimes... well, sometimes the world tells you something a million times, and even though you think they're wrong and even though you don't believe them, it still sinks in a litte. Lesson I had to learn the hard way, definitely, but hey - it means I can use it here, right?
> 
> Also, you may notice that this has changed from /? chapters to /16 - yup, I've finished writing it. Still need to edit and upload, but you can rest safe in the knowledge that the story wraps itself up nicely :D (I'm not saying painlessly, necessarily, but nicely at least). Now, it is definitely open for more after that point - I plan on doing a few one-offs that are set afterwards, and tie it; I also have a plot in mind for a sequel story if people are particularly interested, so let me know on that I guess.
> 
> Other than these two, who's your favourite ship? I've got a bunch of ideas for what to write next, and I'm curious to see what people think is in the highest demand :D
> 
> Come on back next time when the morning rolls around. Symmetra and Sombra make the final few preparations before setting out on the last leg of their journey. They don't expect it to be an easy right, not after what they're faced so far. They end up being surprised.


	13. Light of the Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to leave. Time to shrug off the last few bits of their old lives and head to a new world - Sombra and Symmetra get theirselves some disguises and a vehicle and head off into the desert. Once Sombra gets over a bit of a panic attack over what might happen if things go poorly. The facility isn't unguarded, and their approach doesn't go unnoticed; they'll need to fight to make it through, but they've both been fighting for a decade. Now, at least, they have each other to fight at their side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: pain! Painful feelings and hurt and frustration, on the part of both of them. I don't think it'll be too bad, I focused largely on other things; let me know if I misjudged though, or if there's something else that you think deserves a warning, thanks :)

Sombra woke up slowly at first, sunlight glowing red through her closed eyelids, but when she realized the bed was empty she shot up abruptly. “ _ Chica!” _

“I am right here,” Symmetra reassured from her seat at a desk up against one wall of the hotel room. “You looked nice, sleeping. I thought I would let it continue.”

“Fucking scared me for a sec,” Sombra muttered, rubbing at her eyes. “Why you gotta wake up so early?”

“Productivity.” It was a simple enough answer. Symmetra couldn’t devote much attention elsewhere at the moment - this was delicate work.

Stretching, Sombra noticed the Architech’s distraction and stood from the bed, ambling over for a curious look. She had her prosthetic arm off, and laid out on the desk - suspended in some kind of a cradle which she had doubtlessly made herself, and poking around with a small screwdriver.

“What’re you doing?” Sombra murmured, timing her inquiry for a moment when Symmy  _ wasn’t _ actively prodding at anything.

“Making a few adjustments,” Symmetra replied, smiling down at her arm. “Sadly, I do not understand the technology well enough to recreate it, else I would have proliferated the world with hard-light generators. However, I  _ do  _ have a thorough enough grasp to alter some specific settings. Upon leaving Vishkar, I lowered the power output to ensure longevity; as you pointed out last night over pizza, we will either succeed or fail by the day’s end. I need no longer plan for tomorrow.”

The hacker glanced over at that, but of course Symmetra had said it calmly. Coolly. Like it didn’t mean a thing. Whether it was because of her flat tone, or just because of the fact that it was  _ her _ saying it, Sombra didn’t know - but for one reason or another, it made her guts twist. 

“Okay but it doesn’t sound  _ encouraging _ when you say it,  _ chica,” _ Sombra muttered through a chuckle as Symmetra turned to her with a confused expression.

“And you believe it  _ does _ when  _ you _ say it?”

“Of course!” Sombra grinned widely. “I’m practically a motivational icon, I mean, c’mon!”

Symmetra sighed and rolled her eyes. “Of course. How foolish of me. Perhaps it can be your calling in this new world, hmm?” She giggled softly through her nose at the image of the hacker on a podium trying to give a stirring speech to the crowds.

Although, Sombra had certainly inspired her. She lost her focus entirely at the purple woman's proximity, and looked over. “It is impossible to concentrate with you so near.” The words sounded a little more blunt than she intended them to and she recoiled with a frown, but Sombra just snickered.

“Yeah yeah, I know you just can’t get enough of Sombra,” she grinned and Symmetra sighed.

“Is the third person strictly necessary?”

“Of course it is!” Sombra laughed as she noticed something on the side table, standing to go take a look at it.

“Well,  _ Symmetra _ begs to differ,” the Architech muttered under her breath, grinning at the circumstantial irony even as the specifics of the phrasing bothered her slightly. Some things were simply mixed that way. She glanced over toward Sombra and noticed the bed, in disarray of course since Sombra had left it.  _ I’ll simply need to do it myself. _

She certainly couldn’t focus  _ now. _

“Hey, what  _ is _ this?” Sombra picked up the thing off of the bedside table - it looked like something of Sym’s, white and smooth, somewhere between metal and plastic. It had a button, but was too big to be a vibrator.  _ Well… _ Sombra tipped her head to the side.  _...maybe not  _ **_way_ ** _ too big? _ “This what I think it is?”

“Unlikely,” Symmetra smirked as she pulled the sheets back and started to re-make the bed. “You lamented your own lack of ability to incapacitate, rather than killing.”

“Did I?” Sombra frowned a little, turning the device over in hand.  _ Huh. That doesn’t sound like me. _ “Oh!” She slapped a palm against her forehead with a laugh. “In the vault there, yeah, when I was getting the codes for Moksha. Yeah, it would be handy for infiltration stuff - is that what this is?”

“Indeed,” Sym confirmed, setting the pillows back in place. “It functions similarly to my arm, draining the energy from a person. It will cause loss of consciousness - as with that man on the aircraft.”

“You know they’ve got people for that kinda stuff, eh  _ chica?” _

Symmetra glanced up with a frown to see Sombra studying her as she fixed the bed-settings. “Of course. But then, I would not get to  _ see _ it.”

Sombra opened her mouth to respond, but didn’t even know where to start so she just laughed instead. “Ah,  _ chica,” _ she shook her head with a grin,  _ I love you. _ “You’re great. How much longer you got on your arm there?”

“A few minutes. The adjustments are not pressing - what is our timeframe?”

“Shaky at best,” Sombra muttered, rubbing a hand across the back of her neck and glancing over to her clothes which Symmy had folded at the side of the room on a small shelf. “We bought ourselves some time last night, but I know a thing or two about these pricks. They’ll be watching for us just in case - we’ve gotta go incognito.” She caught a purple tip of hair between her fingers and scowled at it. “Damn. Incognito’s not exactly my thing, not like this.”

Symmetra looked back almost in horror. “Are you meaning to imply that it is  _ mine?” _

At that, the hacker had to laugh. “I mean, compared to me? Throw on some different clothes and a pair of sunglasses and nobody’ll look twice at you here,  _ chica.  _ Me, though? I’m gonna have to dye this shit.”

“And find some truly obscuring sunglasses,” Symmetra smirked as she looked at those almost-glowing purple eyes.

Sombra’s grin widened as she stepped closer, around the edge of the bed. “Oh, oh these?” She gestured a hand over her face, bright purple nails underneath bright purple eyes, both gleaming and glimmering. Symmetra smiled as she nodded.

“You think these eyes are gonna be conspicuous?” Sombra frowned thoughtfully, looking away and tapping at her lips with a finger. “Hmm. Can’t have that now, can we? Man, if only I had some kind of way of  _ rectifying _ that. I mean… that’d be really handy, wouldn’t it,  _ amiga?” _

She looked back almost expectantly at Symmetra with a wide grin, with wide eyes. Wide  _ brown _ eyes. Symmetra pulled back with a deep frown for a moment before leaning closer. They were certainly brown now, rather than purple.

“I don’t like it. Stop it.”

Sombra snickered and her eyes shifted back to purple. “Yeah, it’s cute that you think I’m hot like I am. I mean, I can’t say I blame you - I  _ am _ \- but y’know,” she shrugged a shoulder, “still nice.”

“You can change your eye colour at will?” Symmetra inquired as she went to sit at the desk again. The room was clean, the eyes were purple, things were as they should be - she could focus on her work again.

“Yep!” Sombra tugged her shirt and leggings on but left the jacket. “Pretty handy skill. I’ve got lots of those, hidden away - hey, I’m gonna get us some clothes, okay? Nobody’ll see me, I’ll be  _ my _ kind of incognito: invisible. I’ll be back in ten minutes, alright?”

Symmetra turned to her, looking nervous, and Sombra smirked at that.  _ Chica’s probably worried to be alone. Aww, that’s kinda cute.  _ “Hey, don’t worry. You got the turrets and everything, you’ll be safe.”

Symmetra snorted. “I am hardly worried about that.” Sombra frowned in offence, though the gesture twisted where the corner of her lips tugged up. “I merely…” Symmetra looked down to her outfit. The outfit of an Architech of the Vishkar corporation. It was a symbol which she had preserved, proudly, and now…

...now she needed to abandon it. One more vestige of what had been, gone; one more fragment of the old world burned as fuel for the crucible of the new. Perhaps it was fitting, but it still hurt, and brought a tear to Symmetra’s eye.

“It- it… this seemed so fitting, for… Moksha.” Her words were soft, small, incredibly hesitant - they hurt Sombra a little to hear.

“Hey, tell you what,” she shrugged, trying not to let on how much her heart had clenched at the pain in Symmetra’s voice. “I’ll get you a backpack, we can bring it along and you can change when we get there - you just gotta wear something else until we make it there. That sound better, Symmy?”

“Much better,” Symmetra nodded with a smile which only widened as Sombra’s arms wrapped around her from behind. She leaned back against the hacker and ran a hand up her arm to the back of her shoulder.

Sombra nuzzled her nose into Symmy’s hair and breathed deeply, the scent making her almost a little lightheaded. It was like a drug - a subtle one, maybe, but not really that different from taking a hit of Flash or E7. Better, actually. Way better.

Her thoughts and her words took different paths as she murmured into Symmetra’s hair.  _ I love you. _ “Be back in ten minutes, okay?”  _ I love you so much, be safe. _ “You’ve got your communicator, let me know if anything comes up.”  _ Love you. _ “I can hit a button and be back here in two seconds.”  _ I love you Symmy.  _ “See you in a bit, Symmy.”

Sombra walked briskly toward the door as a grimace pulled over her face.  _ Ugh. Son of a bitch.  _ She knew that she was actually going to need to  _ say _ it one of these days.

_ Tomorrow. Either we’ll be dead or in space, and I’m pretty confident that either way it won’t be too bad. I mean… she won’t throw me out of the airlock. Hopefully. _

Symmetra just smiled and waved goodbye, and turned back to focus on her arm. She worked for some time on it, making minor adjustments - undoing what she had done years ago, and in some instances, even more. Vishkar had been a glorious corporation, but not  _ every _ person there had been a visionary. Some were simply brilliant, and their work could always be improved upon.

Once her work was finished, she reattached the arm and sighed happily. She felt whole again, and so did it, humming at full power - she formed a skeletal octahedron as a paperweight and grinned at how swiftly and easily it took shape. Then, she removed and folded her Architech’s uniform - with every hint of the reverence it deserved.

A slight crackling noise heralded Sombra’s return, half a second before she reappeared in a cloud of pixelation above the beacon she’d left on the floor. She immediately laughed and collapsed forward to the bed, panting heavily.

“Whoo!” she swallowed and went back to sucking in deep lungfuls of air. “Damn! Mall security - in this country - can fuckin’  _ run, chica! _ Hey- hey looking good there,” she nodded, gesturing with one hand to Symmetra who stood there wearing a smile and nothing else. “I’m gonna be - all over that shit once I - get my breath back.”

“An entertaining idea, but are we not hurried?” Symmetra pointed out, arching an eyebrow. “What have you brought me to wear?”

Sombra nodded with a grunt, gasping a breath, and tossed something to her.

It probably only weighed a dozen grams. It seemed to be comprised of six or seven straps which were half as thick as her pinky finger, with nothing but a very loose and stretchy lacy sort of mesh between them. “Sombra.”

She was laughing breathlessly, kneeling on the floor. “Oh your- your  _ face _ ,  _ chica!” _ She cackled, still panting heavily. “Oh that was great!”

“Perhaps you would be less tired if you had not run between so very  _ many _ stores,” Symmetra suggested wryly with a smirk, reaching out to take one of the two backpacks Sombra had slung over her shoulder. She emptied the contents onto the bed and then placed her Architech’s uniform inside. After a moment of consideration, she set the lingerie in there as well. It wouldn’t take up much space.

Then, she busied herself with sorting through the other offerings as Sombra took a minute to catch her breath - her arms were full of things as well which Symmetra took and laid out. Enough clothing to make two or three outfits for each of them, a box of hair dye, sunglasses, a bottle of tequila, a heavy cardboard cylinder inside of which something rattled slightly, potato chips, cigars, four pornographic magazines and a box of condoms.

“Why did you even-” Symmetra tossed the condoms off to the wall with a huff as Sombra snickered.

“Well,  _ that’s _ why, obviously! C’mon, you can chuckle,  _ chica.” _

“Do something  _ funny _ and I will,” Symmetra smirked with a pointed glance at Sombra’s eyes. They were wide and delighted, and thankfully purple, but she knew that was not long to last. Symmetra looked to the clock. Seven twenty-five in the morning.

“Let’s get my hair dyed,” Sombra shrugged, noticing the obvious glance at the time and grabbing up the box of dye. “Then… time to hit the road. Paradise,  _ amiga -  _ salvation.” She caught Symmy’s hand in hers, squeezing it lightly. “You and me.”

“You and me,” Symmetra repeated in a murmur, a distinct fluttering sensation rushing through her chest as her lips curled wider of their own volition. It was quite a fascinating reaction.

The dye was easy enough - Symmetra worked it thoroughly through Sombra’s hair, grinning at the almost constant stream of soft moans that the hacker let out. “I’m glad you like this. It’s nice to share.”

Sombra snickered at the way Sym seemed to just blurt out whatever popped into her head.  _ I love you, Symmy.  _ “Yeah, it’s nice.” She sighed and relaxed her neck, leaning back into Symmetra’s hands and letting her eyes slide shut as her scalp was massaged.

“I would deem that thoroughly worked-in,” Symmetra frowned, a little unhappily. “Now we are meant to let it sit. Although I would rather continue.”

At that, Sombra’s eyes slowly slid open as her grin sharpened. “We’re supposed to let it sit for how long?”

“Five minutes.”

Sombra’s grin faltered a little and she sighed. “Damn. I was hoping this would be one of those old ones that you had to leave in for half an hour. Well, still,” she patted at her knee, “I’ve got an idea of how I could distract you for five minutes!”

Symmetra looked to her lips - they were doing that dance again, the one that meant they wanted to be kissed, and she wanted to  _ give _ them what they wanted. “It-” she hesitated, “that would not make me want my hands in your hair  _ less.” _

“How ‘bout if I hold ‘em behind your back, hmm?” Sombra raised an eyebrow. “C’mon here,  _ amiga _ , my lips and my lap are getting cold.”

With a laugh, Symmetra nodded in concession and peeled off the disposable gloves, tossing them into the trash. Then, she stepped around the chair to sit in Sombra’s lap, facing her. She tugged her arms away a little when the hacker reached for her wrists - enough that they were hand-in-hand, instead, and then interlaced their fingers as she leaned forward with a smile. “A very good way to spend the time.”

As their lips met, Symmetra couldn’t help but marvel at it. Sombra tasted just slightly smoky - not like a fire, but like a slow-cooked meal, savoury and delectable. She was entirely forward, never hesitating to catch a lip between her teeth or plunge her tongue in but she wasn’t greedy about it, she gave as much as she took, and that was to say nothing for the feedback she offered. 

Symmetra loved that: the moans, the giggles, the way she shimmied her shoulders and shifted her hips, tensed up her fingers - she loved the effects she had on Sombra, loved how free Sombra was with sharing them back, loved all of it. She became more than a little lightheaded and breathless as her thoughts dwelt on that, in ways she wasn’t truly conscious of - she was focusing far too much on Sombra’s soft lips and warm mouth, her rolling spine and clutching hands. There wasn’t much room for conscious thought.

Sombra had to hold Symmetra’s hands back a few times, or guide them other places, but she didn’t mind that in the slightest - her  _ chica _ stroking at her sides? Good. Grabbing at her thighs? Great, particularly when she used her nails. Just had to keep her hands free of the hair. Stupidly.

It also meant that neither of them could really dive in like she wanted - necks were pretty much off-limits unless they wanted to have conspicuously black-spotted faces. It was going to be really hard to get up and go do something after this kind of distraction.  _ Heh, probably a pretty stupid idea, actually. _

She just couldn’t help it - the way Symmetra shivered and hummed, how deliberately and smoothly she moved her tongue, her jaw, her hands, her hips.  _ Chica _ definitely understood there was a lot more to kissing than just jamming your tongue down somebody’s throat; she swirled hers lightly, traced the tip on the backside of Sombra’s lips - or along her upper teeth, just brushing the gums, and every time she did it sent an electric rush of joy down Sombra’s spine.

“It’s-” Symmetra tried to speak, but there were lips in the way. “Five min-mmm, mmmhm!” She cut off breathlessly as Sombra pulled her hands down, drawing her in closer with a soft growl that shot directly through her mouth and into Symmetra’s gut.

“Don’t care,” Sombra replied shortly, breaking the kiss off for not an instant longer than was required for the words.  _ I love you. I might lose you today. I can’t- _

With a desperate grunt, Sombra pulled her head back and twisted it off sharply to the side, closing her eyes as she scowled and tried (and failed) to shut off her brain. It ran like a locomotive, right off the tracks. “Fuck, I-” she cleared her throat, voice suddenly strained. “I think uh, must’ve got some in my eye.”

Symmetra frowned, wiping a tear from Sombra’s cheek. She couldn’t see any indications of dye, but the tears were certainly there. “Yes, come. I told you I wished to wash your hair anyway.”

“Th-thanks, Symmy,” Sombra chuckled and sniffled, trying desperately to pull her thoughts away from that dark place. From the fact that she might lose her. Again. Permanently. She couldn’t stand it - she couldn’t even stand  _ thinking _ about it. She could  _ barely _ take thinking about the fact that she loved Symmetra. Thinking about  _ losing _ her? That just couldn’t happen.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop it from  _ very much  _ happening. She couldn’t stop the thoughts and couldn’t shake them, they piled up like rocks that weighed her down, multiplied like flames that burned her from the inside. Like rats that gnawed her to pieces. Sombra’s shoulders started to shake as Sym pulled her shirt off, and her leggings, and urged her into the shower. The water was cold at first but she didn’t care, she just tried to pull the Architech in closer.

Worried, Symmetra washed out her hair quickly with the shampoo which had been provided in the dye box. She’d read the instructions fully and she intended to follow them, but as soon as that was done she directed her attention solely to Sombra’s face. The hacker didn’t want to let her, at first - she wrapped her arms up tighter and Symmetra let her for a moment, but if she was hurt then it needed to be tended to.

Although, the thought of what  _ she _ would want struck her and she hesitated. Symmetra knew that if she was trying that hard to do something and anyone forced her from it, it would be difficult to maintain control. Perhaps impossibly difficult.

She stopped pressing at Sombra’s shoulders and trying to tilt her head back to wash her face clean, and the hacker just sobbed as she pulled their embrace even tighter. Symmetra let out her breath slowly with a smile as she hugged back and held Sombra for a while as the warm water cascaded over them. She stroked at the back of Sombra’s head and was rewarded with a nod into her shoulder.

“You didn’t get anything in your eye, did you?” Symmetra smiled lightly, continuing to just run her fingers through Sombra’s hair.

“Shut up, I might’ve,” the hacker muttered into her shoulder as her insides squirmed and her mind circled darkly.

“Would-” Sym took a breath, frowning slightly. She knew what  _ she _ would have wanted. Nobody ever wanted what she wanted. Nobody ever seemed to act how she acted. Would this be an exception? Life seemed riddled with them, exceptions, and she never knew where they would spring up at her like landmines. “Would you like to talk about it?”

“Really, really,  _ really _ not,” Sombra whispered, clutching desperately at Symmy’s shoulderblades, her tears mixing in with diluted hair-dye and shower water. “I don’t even wanna think about it.”

“Then don’t,” Symmetra murmured and shook her head. It sounded familiar - maybe without certain aspects, maybe without that almost electrical fraying that seemed to spread along her nerves, but the pain sounded familiar. Symmetra decided to  _ do _ what she would want - she stroked gently at the back of Sombra’s head, she hummed a song from her childhood, wrapped her metal arm tightly behind the hacker’s back and held her, and squeezed her.

It took a few minutes. Sombra didn’t know exactly how long. Symmetra did - two hundred seven seconds - but she hadn’t counted manually this time; after all,  _ she _ wasn’t the nervous one. Her clock had simply kept the time while she’d focused on humming and metronomically steady strokes.

“Thanks.” Sombra sighed heavily - it caught halfway as almost a sob, but continued rather than hitching back up again. “Thanks,  _ chica _ , I just-”

“Shh, it’s okay,” Symmetra whispered, shaking her head. “You don’t need to explain anything to me. I trust you.”  _ I- I… _ she frowned as the words were clearly inadequate. They twisted in her throat, and lower in her chest - higher, in her mind. They were good words,  _ I trust you _ , but they were not the  _ right _ words. What words, then? Anything else would be a lie, or only felt  _ worse. _ For the millionth time in her life, she didn’t know the words which aligned with what she meant to express.

If this had been written in a story, she might have thought that it would be love. It couldn’t be love. Everyone always told her she couldn’t love.

_ “Well, then they’re idiots.” _

_ “Who, everyone?” _

_ “Yup!” _

_ Thrice, now. _ A single tear streaked unnoticed amid the water down Symmetra’s cheek as she clenched her jaw in frustration. She was caught between an impossibility and an impossibility, she could not and she could not and it was  _ frustrating. _ She took a slow breath and let it out - tried not to think about it.

Instead, she washed Sombra’s hair again. The hacker chuckled and sighed happily at fingers massaging her scalp. “That’s great. Man, you should do this for a living. You’d be rich.”

Symmetra laughed softly. “What need have I for money?”

Sombra snickered. “Yeah,”  _ I love you,  _ “you and me both. Alright, I think it might be time to get going.” She stepped back a pace in the shower, wiping her pitch black hair out of her face and gathering it at the side in a ponytail, opening her now-brown eyes. “What do you think?”

Symmetra’s lips wrinkled into a frown. “I much prefer the purple. You don’t look like you anymore.”

With a soft giggle, Sombra grinned. “Well, yeah - that’s the point! Okay, let’s go get stuff packed up.” She reached out and tapped the tip of Sym’s nose. “Boop!”

 

\---

 

She looked entirely different as she walked down the sidewalk - she didn’t saunter or strut the way she usually did. Sombra kept her hands thrust deep into the pockets of her jeans, shoulders hunched forward. She wore a vest over a button-up shirt, and a knit cap that covered the designs in her hair. The long section hung out along one side in a loose and messy ponytail.

Symmetra tried to follow suit. She tried to just  _ walk _ , but then she worried that that might seem too nonchalant. She tried to let her posture slack, but that hardly worked. Her own outfit was quite befitting for the area and fashion of the time, and nothing like her own tastes - a skirt over slacks and a button-up shirt, rolled at the sleeves in a way which constricted the bloodflow, she could swear to it. It was pointless, as well, given the long-sleeved jacket she wore overtop to hide her prosthetic arm. The sunglasses fit awkwardly at her temple, and bothered her. Clashing vibrant colours. Flamboyance, but she was walking through a veritable  _ sea _ of the same; a drop of paint in a bucket of paint.

Anything could be tolerated for a moment, however. She simply bore it and hurried along after Sombra - trying very much to look as if she was neither hurrying, nor following Sombra.

Each of them had a backpack. Sombra’s held Oso, and the potato chips along with some other more useful foodstuffs, and a cardboard tube which she’d refused to divulge the identity of. She’d convinced Symmetra to take the tequila as well as the bulk of the clothing. The porn magazines had been abandoned at the hotel room, with Sombra stating she’d rather they make their own, anyway.

They took several turns which led them down less-populated avenues, and Symmetra was able to breathe a little easier there. Fewer people, fewer eyes, less judgement that laid on her heavily like a blanket - not in the pleasant way an actual blanket would have, but rather hot and oppressive. 

Eventually they came to a large garage door and Sombra knocked on it. The sound echoed through the alleyway and through the building on the other side before a small rectangle of metal slid back to reveal an equally metal face. “You here for the Marauder?”

“Yup,” Sombra nodded, pulling a stack of physical bills out of her pocket. Some economists had wondered why currency never made the leap to purely digital - the answer was, as it so  _ often _ was, the Black Market. Maybe not the only answer, but a big one. She held the stack out and flipped through it.

“Nice tip,” the omnic nodded, having counted every bill and noted the denominations.

“Hey, what can I say? You’re letting me live out a lifelong dream here, you deserve a little extra. Always wanted to drive a real diesel beast like this.”

The omnic chuckled behind the door. “There’s just something about that roar that you don’t get these days, huh?” He sighed wistfully, shaking his head. “Just don’t make ‘em like they used to. Well, it’s your lucky day.”

Symmetra suppressed laughter at the irony of a sentient machine pining for the days before its existence would have been possible.

There was an electronic whirring noise as the garage door lifted back. “You want power? You want a roar?” The omnic chuckled again, gesturing loosely to the massive, armoured, six-wheeled, green painted war machine in the garage. “She’ll give you more than you can handle.”

Sombra chuckled both at that, and at the look of almost horrified shock that crossed Symmy’s face. “Oh, buddy - there’s  _ nothing _ we can’t handle. C’mon,  _ chica, _ ” she waved, “let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

Symmetra hadn’t the faintest clue what that meant. Evidently, though, she was to get into the vehicle. If even it could be  _ called _ a vehicle. She was relatively certain she had seen houses smaller than this.

“Thank you,” she murmured thoughtlessly to the omnic in passing, before struggling up and into the behemoth. “You…  _ do _ know how to drive this, correct?”

Sombra snorted. “In theory?” She chuckled knowingly and glanced around, fingers touching lightly on various controls and switches.  _ Just reach inside and… okay… no computer in there... _

“...that is not an answer, that is a question.”

“I’m figuring- just, it’s cool  _ amiga. _ I got this. I’m gonna- I’m gonna get it, just- it’s cool, alright?”  _ The fuck? This thing doesn’t have electronic engine control? Well how the fuck am I supposed to start it!? _

Symmetra pulled a thankfully comprehensive harness tightly across her chest and legs and buckled it securely as she shut the door. “I certainly  _ hope _ so.”

 

\---

 

As the wheels churned sand and launched the almost-disastrously large truck off of another sand dune, the engine roared and Sombra whooped delightedly as she pumped a fist in the air. “Yeah! Fuckin’ get it,  _ chica!” _

Symmetra let out a single breathless laugh. It was absolutely terrifying to her to pilot this vehicle, but at least Sombra was enjoying herself.

“Again, again,” the hacker chanted excitedly, slapping her hands rhythmically on the dashboard.

“You’re-” Symmetra laughed, shifting down as the ground sloped upward. “You are really enjoying yourself, aren’t you?”

“ _ Chica _ I’m gonna make you build one of these on that space station and drive me around every single damn day.”

Symmetra giggled at that, as it managed to legitimately relieve the tension of piloting the large vehicle - if only for a moment. It was quite a ridiculous image. They’d been driving for hours since leaving the city and hadn’t seen anything that was probably worth noting - two helicopters, seven small dune-buggies, twelve people walking and a camel which had nearly caused an incident as Symmetra craned her neck to see it and almost drove into a withered tree.

Or rather, she  _ had _ driven into a withered tree. Into it, right through it, and over its crumbled remains. The vehicle truly  _ was _ monstrous - but Sombra liked it, so Symmetra couldn’t hold it in too great distaste.

“Uhhhh… ‘kay…” Sombra frowned as she swiped ferociously at a screen in front of her and her eyes started to widen. “Sh- okay, oh, fuck, heh, well- um…” she glanced at the windshield. A small arrow that she had coded there showed the way toward the facility, out through barren sandy tracts of land. They were heading in that direction very efficiently - of course they were, Symmetra was driving.

On the downside, that meant she wasn’t available to do anything else. Some of those turrets or shields would probably have been really helpful.

“What?” Symmetra clenched her jaw as all the tension abruptly returned and her knuckles whitened on the steering wheel - or at least, those of her flesh hand did.

“Okay, don’t freak out,  _ chica _ , alright? Just remember that they can’t blow us up.”

“ _ What?!” _ Symmetra whimpered, eyes wide. “ _ Who _ can’t blow us up? And why are they trying?”

“I said  _ don’t _ freak out!” Sombra huffed a sigh as she undid her harness. “It looks lik-”

“Where are you  _ going?! _ Stop it!”

“I’m  _ explaining  _ that,  _ amiga _ ,” Sombra sighed with a grin and a roll of her eyes as she pushed herself out of her seat. “Look,” she patted a hand down on each of Symmetra’s shoulders and gave her a careful little kiss on the top of the head as the truck bounced drastically over the sands. “Symmy. You’re doing  _ great _ , okay? You’ve got this, you can easily handle this shit, and uh… you know, don’t feel bad if you run a few of them down.”

Symmetra swallowed slowly, heavily, and breathed just the same. “If I  _ pretend _ to be calm will you  _ please  _ tell me who will apparently be  _ attacking us _ in the near future?”

Sombra sighed as she swung into the back of the truck and strapped herself into another seat - one with a screen in front of it. “Don’t know how, exactly, but the God-programs are here. Probably just staking out the whole location - they took over Vishkar, after all, so they might’ve found some info on Moksha. Either way-” she cut off as a hail of shots spattered against the truck’s outer hull. “Either way, we’ll be fine. We’ve got a whole lot of armour plating - plus, you behind the wheel!”

“And where does that put you?” Symmetra’s body took on an intense stillness as her focus zeroed in. Three aircraft glinted in the sun as they swooped in a high arc, turning around to come back and open fire again. She plotted a route that would permit more drastic motions to circumvent attacks, whilst avoiding the possibility of overturning - up onto that brush-topped berm over there and then swerving back down to avoid gunfire, but it would need to be timed correctly. She watched intently as the aircraft began to make a return pass. It was a simple matter of velocity, geometry, physics. If she was to be an asset, she would provide as greatly as possible.

“Me?” Sombra chuckled, grinning as purple tendrils extended from her fingertips into the screen and controls in front of her, a curved purple holo-display flickering to life and showing the roof of the truck.  _ This, _ at least, was electronic. “That leaves  _ me _ on the turret. Don’t worry, kid - I won’t get cocky.”

She waited a second for Symmy to laugh at the reference. Of course, she didn’t. Sombra rolled her eyes with a chuckled sigh and opened fire.

Lasers really were a thing of beauty, and Sombra loved them - as the little omnic fighters opened up with their bright blue lashes of energy across the sky (that Symmy managed to dodge), she couldn’t help but grin at the sight of it. Still, there was something to what that omnic had said.

There was something about that  _ roar _ that you just didn’t get, these days.

As the massive gatling cannon on the roof opened fire, Sombra cackled in excited laughter over the blaring noise. It was a big, beautiful gun - something that had originally come in aircraft and was designed to take out  _ tanks. _ The little dinky omnic fighters never had a chance and she whooped as the camera feed showed them bursting into flames.

“See? Fireworks,  _ chica!”  _ Sombra cheered from the back of the truck. “They’re giving us a little send-off party!”

“Ah yes how foolish of me,” she swerved slightly as a vehicle streaked across in front of her, joined shortly by another, and more shots lanced out from the distance. “Please do not stop firing, Sombra, please keep firing, continue to f-”

“I got it, I got it  _ chica,” _ she grinned as she swirled her hands, directing the turret up top to spin around. A big truck behind them was pulling up close - as she caught sight of it, it got near enough for an omnic to leap from its roof onto hers.

“No ticket,” Sombra grinned as the turret burst into life and shredded the bot to bits, and then carried on to the vehicle it had jumped from. There was a thump, and then four more, and Sombra glanced toward the front. “What was that?”

“YOU TOLD ME NOT TO FEEL BAD IF I RAN A FEW OF THEM DOWN!”

Sombra laughed. “Hey, good job!”  _ I love you. _ “You’re doing great, okay Symmy?” Another burst of gunfire. “Absolutely great.”  _ I love you _ . More blaring noise from the turret up top. “You’ve got this.”  _ I love you. _ “They’re not even really alive - not these ones, at least, they’re really just drones now.”

The gunfire wasn’t painfully loud within the truck, but it could definitely be described as oppressively loud, and Sombra tried not to keep the turret running too constantly as a result. “I lo-” Sombra cut herself off by squeezing the trigger, wide-eyed at the fact that she’d almost accidentally said it.

Her encouragement held Symmetra back from the edge of true panic, kept her from fraying apart; along with a constant stream of self-assurance, the song she hummed under her breath, and the fact that if she curled her hand  _ just so _ around the wheel, she could stroke her thumb along her forefinger in the correct pattern.  _ Tick tock, tick tock. Good little clock. _

_ Tick. _ An omnic footsoldier, assault rifle flashing with laser blasts, crumpled under the wheels.  _ Tock. _ She swerved and caught a small vehicle driven by one omnic, with a machine-gun manned by another, and tore it in half against the bumper.  _ Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Good little clock. Tick, tock, tick, tock. _

Sombra’s laughter helped. Laughter interspersed with shouts of encouragement, and it helped greatly - enough that, when the window next to her shattered inward, Symmetra was able to counter it and lash out, punching the omnic off of the vehicle.

“What the  _ fuck?!” _ Sombra called from the back, spinning the gatling cannon around to take out the hovercraft speeding along beside them, along with its prospective boarders. “Those windows are supposed to be blastproof! Sorry  _ amiga! _ ”

“Evidently they are  _ not _ omnic-proof,” Symmetra called back, reaching out to slap at a button and taking her hands off of the wheel, swirling a barrier into existence from light. The wind was unbearably loud, impossibly loud, and it needed to be rectified.

“ _ Chica _ what the fuck are you doing!” Sombra’s eyes flew wide as Sym let go of the steering wheel. “You gotta  _ steer!” _

“I  _ NEED _ a window, is what I need!” Symmetra shouted back over the now intensely painful and un-muffled sounds of combat, as she set the barrier in place - glowing blue and gorgeous, and at least it would  _ notify _ her before breaking. “I turned on cruise control!”

“ _ What the FUCK is cruise control?” _

“It’s like auto-drive for museums,” the Architech snapped back as she took the wheel again. “Now concentrate on firing!”

Sombra cackled. “This from the woman who just took her hands off the wheel? I fucking l _ ove  _ you,  _ chica!” _ Her eyes flew wide as she heard the words drifting over the sound of gunfire - she observed as if from out of her body, uncontrolled. The shout flew out and she was powerless to stop it, or to do anything else. It was time for shit to  _ really _ hit the fan.

“WHAT?” Symmetra yelled back, frustrated as a very large vehicle slammed into her grille and three omnics jumped from it onto the hood. “I cannot hear you over the maelstrom!”

“I’ve never been happier in my fucking life,” Sombra gasped quietly, shaking her head and tearing one of the hood ornaments in half with the gatling cannon. “Never mind!” she shouted forward. “It’s all good! You’re doing great, Symmy!”

“As- as are you!” Symmetra whimpered slightly as their Marauder was rocked to the side by an aircraft that slammed into them heavily. It would seem the God-programs were getting desperate.

Fearfully, Sombra eyed the slight dent in the far side of the truck that the airplane had made. It was very small, but it was also  _ there. _ This thing had been designed to take just about anything - but it had also been designed sixty or seventy years back. They didn’t build them like they used to, but that was a knife that cut both ways.

On top of that, she was out of bullets.

“Uh.”

Symmetra whipped her head around, flashing a glare at Sombra for an instant before returning it to the front. “You are not firing. Sombra. Why are you not firing? Please continue firing.”

“It’s- well, we’re out of bullets,” Sombra shrugged, unbuckling herself. “So it’s pretty much down to you and the bumper, now.” She stepped forward and laid her hands on Symmetra’s tense shoulders. “You’re alright, you’ve got this. I trust you,  _ chica -  _ if there’s anybody who can get us to those doors, it’s you.”

“Do you have a plan?” The Architech’s eyes flicked up to the floating display - they were nearing the facility rapidly. “I would rather not lead them to the front doors.”

“They won’t be able to follow us all the way anyway,  _ amiga, _ nobody can.” Eyes that had returned to purple scanned the terrain intensely. “But I’m with you there. So… I’m not saying the airplane was a  _ perfect _ plan but-”

“I fail to see how sex will help us,” Symmetra grunted as she swung the wheel and took out a hovering vehicle which spun off to smash into the ground in a fireball.

Sombra laughed. “Man, I love that that’s where your mind went,  _ chica.” _ That was easier. Close enough to let off some of the pressure, maybe. She couldn’t afford to go blurting that shit out again. “No, I meant getting into the baggage compartment. Can you make another one of those teleporters?”

“I can make  _ anything _ but not while I am-” she cut off with a shout as a large vehicle slammed into their side, rocking them over onto three wheels. The engine roared and she spun the steering wheel hopelessly, pointlessly; the vehicle wouldn’t respond while tilted over like this. A hovercraft leapt into the weak spot and smashed into the underside of the truck but failed to do any damage, or flip it further over.

When the Marauder dropped back down to the sand, all six wheels, Symmetra shifted abruptly into a lower gear and shoved her foot to the floor. The engine roared as the vehicle lurched forward and Sombra had to grab onto the edges of Sym’s seat to keep from being thrown backward.

“Now that it is started, do you know how to steer?” Symmetra managed a stiff smirk. Sombra always laughed in difficult situations. In the shower, her way had helped Sombra. Perhaps Sombra’s could help  _ her _ , now. It was worth a try.

“I think I can manage not to flip us over for like, two minutes!” Sombra scoffed in feigned offence.

“If you get us killed, I will be very cross,” Symmetra unbuckled her harness with one hand, flashing Sombra a look as she turned to take the truck down a long, sloped dune - angled away from the direction of Moksha. She reached out and pressed the cruise control on. “No more cartoons, and no more kisses either.”

“Damn,  _ chica,  _ that’s really serious punishment!” Sombra snickered as they swapped places - she jammed her foot down on the accelerator before strapping herself in. The truck jerked and swayed as she got the hang of the steering, which was more sensitive than she’d expected it to be.

Symmetra stood easily in the back, her knees flexing to almost effortlessly counter the rocking of the vehicle’s floor. She closed her eyes and breathed for a few moments, trying to shut out the noise of outside - bullets and pulse rounds and lasers slashing at their hull, engines screaming, sand and dirt being thrown. Electronic voices.

It sounded like the fall all over again. She had not failed that day, she had not  _ died _ that day; nor would she fail now. She let out a slow breath and began to hum to herself as she wove light into being, familiar patterns in a sadly not-unfamiliar situation. Her hips swayed in time to the song, at odds to the truck’s shaking but she didn’t notice. She was focused beyond the world for a moment - just a moment, but a  _ perfect _ one. A tiny fragment of peace she could carry with her, and though it slipped sometimes from her fingers, she had never failed to find it again.

Nor did she fail now.

Two platters, roughly triangular and currently inactive, took shape - but she was not yet finished. She quickly made two small headsets as well, based off of her old visor from Vishkar. It had been so very long, but it felt so  _ right _ on her head: her model had none of the display functions, as those were all contained in the implants in her eyes, but it  _ did _ have a communicator which would be capable of substantial distances. 

She picked one teleporter up - the other was firmly affixed to the floor - and the other headset, as well, and went to hand them to Sombra.

The hacker was currently cheering as she spun the wheel  _ toward _ an oncoming vehicle, forcing it to swerve or be destroyed - it upended and spilled metal soldiers out over the sands, glittering in the sun.

“Sombra, here.” Symmetra held out the items. Sombra took the headset first with a frown.

“What’s this for?”

“It will show you the path,” she responded simply, “and it will let us speak. The timing of this is crucial.” Symmetra frowned as she glanced toward the back - through a small window in the rear hatch, the majority of the omnic forces could be seen. They were largely chasing, now, which would have been good except for the fact that it meant they could sustain almost constant fire rather than taking it in passes and bursts. No amount of armour would hold forever.

Sombra got out of the seat, hitting the cruise control button, and Sym quickly took her place and buckled in. “Get into place and let me know. I will draw them away, and… I will take a page out of your book.”

“Uh,” Sombra shrugged, putting the headset on. It almost clamped in place at her temples which was a little odd and painful, but Symmetra’s voice came clearly through into her ear as the link was established, so it wasn’t all bad. The arrow on the Marauder’s front windshield was mirrored on her visor, now, pointing the way to Moksha. “Which book,  _ chica? _ Just saying, some of the pages aren’t so great.”

Symmetra bared her teeth, and perhaps ‘grin’ would have been an apt descriptor of the expression, but it was certainly nothing humorous. It was a gleaming, dangerous grin; a daring grin, fearless, and it carried through to her eyes as well. “They will not chase corpses. As stated…” she glanced away from the window for just a second, the expression on her face falling away entirely. “The timing is crucial. I know you struggle with that sometimes.”

“ _ Chica! _ I- I’ll be careful with it, alright? Geeze, relax, I’m never  _ that _ off with my timing.”

“We clearly disagree on that point,” Symmetra murmured as she used the momentum of the truck’s full-throttle run down the long slope to tackle a steep uphill that would otherwise have left them foundering. “Now, go.”

Sombra grinned and stood up. “See you in a few,  _ amiga. _ Give ‘em hell for me - god knows they’ve given it plenty. Time they got a little back.” Then, she activated her Translocator - she’d tossed a beacon out of the door quickly when she took the driver’s seat, and given how fast they were hurtling across the sands, it was now very far back indeed.

The wind whipped her hair as she was suddenly standing in the sands, and she dropped to her knees with the abrupt change in motion. The sudden lack of shaking and movement; momentum was a little odd when it came to teleporting. In front of her, hundreds of feet ahead, she saw a dense cloud of dust that flashed with light - as Symmy started to take the Marauder off elsewhere, she saw dark shapes from the dust cloud resolve into vehicles with weapons flashing.

She didn’t wait long. Not even three seconds before she turned away, invisible, and started to sprint as quickly as she could, teleporter platter in hand.

 

\---

 

Symmetra could sing louder without anyone else here. It helped. She could let out the little noises that wanted to leap from her mouth any time any thing happened. It helped.

Sombra  _ wasn’t _ here. It didn’t help. It made it worse, so much worse, and Symmetra lost the song - her teeth ground against each other and her eyes teared up from the force with which she clenched everything. A constant keening whine came from her mouth and her nose, overlaying with bullets and engine roar and a million other things.

The world was cacophonous enough at the best of times. This was absolutely and utterly unrelenting and  _ catastrophic  _ noise. It bored through her ears and ground down her nerves, shortened her breaths and tensed every muscle and pressed the thoughts from her mind. It stretched time thin and reality thinner, the world  _ was _ noise; it sounded like it, it felt like it, it thought like it, it  _ was  _ noise and nothing else.

“Symmy? You’re doing a great job. I’m nearly there, okay?”

She couldn’t respond. She didn’t have words, she barely had thoughts, but the sound of Sombra’s voice helped. The sound of her pet name. The sound of reassurance. Being updated on the state of the plan.

They had a plan. They  _ did _ have a plan. Not all was chaos, not all was shambles, not all was  _ noise,  _ there was a plan.

“Getting real close now. Nobody’s here, nobody’s watching. Doesn’t look like it’s changed at all in the year since I was here. Okay, I’m- I’m in place, I’m safe here, the thing’s down. Ready when you are,  _ chica. _ ”

Symmetra nodded, nodded again, clenched her teeth, gasped, and managed a word. “Okay!” All the air left her in a rush as she steered the vehicle - there was a plan, she was behind the wheel, the teleporter was set. The path was clear and only she could take it.  _ Tick tock. Tick tock. _

Sombra had showed her satellite photographs of the general area. She remembered them well, their contours and details, and she knew full well what was coming up ahead. At one point, it had perhaps been a deep river; now, only a canyon remained.

_ They will not chase corpses. Tick tock. Good little clock. _

Symmetra’s metal hand clutched at the harness buckles and released them before she made it near the canyon - she didn’t drive straight at it, but rather angled herself; when it came into view she swerved sharply away as if seeing it for the first time. The wheels skidded over sandy dirt, throwing up rocks, and then they stretched out over empty space.

She grabbed her backpack and threw herself backward from the driver’s seat as the vehicle started to topple around her, tilting over the canyon’s lip as she activated the teleporter. The falling truck moved unpredictably, and shifted the teleporter out of her path at first. Free-falling down into the canyon, she caught herself on the truck’s far wall and pushed off backward, giving it a second try.

She didn’t think she would get a third.

 

\---

 

Sombra gasped as Sym came flying through the teleporter, on her back, and skidded ten feet across the floor. “ _ Chica!  _ You alright?” Sombra dashed to her side, but Symmetra was already nodding.

“I- I am unhurt.” She sighed heavily, shaking her head and glancing up to Sombra with a slight frown. “I am never going on a road trip with you again. That was terrible.”

Sombra crouched next to her, open-mouthed with shining eyes and a breathless laugh.  _ I love you.  _ “Hey! I mean - there were parts that weren’t so bad, right?”

Symmetra grabbed at Sombra’s shoulders, falling back flat to the floor and pulling the hacker overtop of her for a kiss, the first one they’d been able to share since setting out on the road, practically. Their visors clunked together a little but neither of them let it interfere. She sighed heavily as she caught a handful of Sombra’s hair between her fingers, tasting the sand and dust on her lips, a slight coppery tinge of blood but it wasn’t unpleasant at all. “ _ That _ part,” she murmured when they separated, “I liked. The rest? Not nearly so much.”

“Okay, fair,” Sombra chuckled, falling to the ground next to her with a huff and pulling her visor off, dropping it to the floor. “I don’t think there’s much at all that I like  _ that _ much.” Her head tipped to the side, rolling until she could see the teleporter. It was inactive, now, no halo of energy floating above the disc anymore; past it, the wind howled through a craggy slit in the rocks. Light drifted in from outside - it had been a very large cave at some point, but a cave-in (either intentional or accidental) had brought the opening down to being narrow enough that three people couldn’t have walked side-by-side through it.

That was probably a small part of why it had remained unfound, all these years. Another part was probably that Vishkar was good at hiding secrets and nobody was left to betray them, but there was something more to it, too. Sombra felt her skin crawling as she lay on the floor - she didn’t  _ want _ to be here. As much as she really wanted to be here.

Maybe it was just the mausoleum phenomenon, but Sombra had always felt pretty at home in graveyards. This, though - when she’d been here before, she hadn’t even been able to spend two minutes before the discomfort had started to escalate to nausea and she’d been forced to leave.

She heard a little noise, and realized that her eyes had slid closed at some point. Her head snapped over and there was Symmetra, pushing herself to her feet. Sombra followed suit, stepping near and taking her arm gently as Sym took a hesitant step toward the doors. Just one.

They were thirty feet tall if they were an inch (twelve metres, precisely), and the rust and dust painted blurry murals across the surface. Blast-proof, bullet-proof, fire-proof, end-of-the-world-proof as it turned out. Sombra looked at them for the second time; Symmetra, the first.

Symmetra glanced over as she felt fingers interlace with hers. Sombra was there. It helped, somewhat, but she still couldn’t sort out the confused maelstrom of feelings within her. Her hand squeezed at Sombra’s, though, and that was good - yet, still, as her eyes returned to the doors of the facility…

“It feels wrong.”

Sombra swallowed, nodding slowly. “So uh,” she chuckled hesitantly, “that’s not just me, huh?”

Symmetra shook her head, gulping back a retch which tried to rise up her gullet. “Vishkar employed suppression techniques where necessary. Sonic Implication, they called it - an unseen deterrent. I only became exposed once, when events within the common area were deemed to be growing out of hand.”

“Freaky shit,  _ chica, _ ” the hacker stretched back to catch the second strap of her backpack and sling it over her shoulder. Not for the first time, she wondered what sort of place the Vishkar Corporation had really been. The old world had a lot of secrets, and they weren’t all good. Not nearly.

“Once we are inside, we can disable the field,” Symmetra explained, her voice thin and strained. “I- I only-” the words caught in her throat, running aground of emotions that whirled violently as her face shifted, unminded. Her brows drew together, her feet moved; her body acted not on impulse but on some plan to which she was not party, it seemed to her, and she was hardly even aware of it. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the doors.

They were nearer, now. Had she walked forward? She tried to look away to see if Sombra had followed her, but the doors were so large and near, she could not afford to take her eyes off of them. Her hand stretched out - but this motion wasn’t involuntary. This one was Sombra.

Sombra, who still held her hand; Sombra, who squeezed it gently as she lifted it; Sombra, who stroked Symmetra’s metal fingers almost reverently against the door.

A small screen there flashed to life. Flickered, for a moment, and then turned purple as Sombra slipped in. The door began to slowly slide back into the wall, pulled with a distant rumble by machinery unseen.

“We made it,” Symmetra whispered, staring blankly ahead as tears started to rise in her eyes.

“We did. Together,” Sombra smiled softly. Her lips wavered. She couldn’t take it anymore,  _ not _ saying it. Not here, looking at her  _ chica’s _ stupid puppy-eyes glistening like that, not hand-in-hand as they were about to step into paradise. 

She sort of hated that she couldn’t hold it in anymore, but she did  _ know _ that she couldn’t. Sombra took a shaky breath. “I love you, Symmy.”

It managed to pull Symmetra’s eyes away. Those dark golden eyes, shimmering with tears, turned from the door and met with purple ones which were no less tearful, no less afraid. Symmetra was speechless, entirely; a small part of her mind screamed at the unfairness of it but her heart swelled with the thought. She was no stranger to dichotomy, but it had never quite felt like this before.

Symmetra leaned in and pulled Sombra closer, kept her hand in hand as she slipped the other arm behind her back. There were no words - none in her mind, and no way she could speak anyway with her throat closed so tightly. She could not make sense of her own thoughts in the slightest, and so she let her body interpret them freely instead. Her hand slid up the metal plates along Sombra’s spine as she sought the hacker’s warm mouth with her own, tried to tell her  _ without _ words that she was wanted, she was appreciated, she was- loved? No, Symmetra could not love. Everyone had always told her that.

_ “Well, then they’re idiots.” _

_ “Who, everyone?” _

_ “Yup!” _

A single sob leapt to Symmetra’s throat as she brought her hand to the base of Sombra’s skull, fingers spreading out over the locus of the design there, nested circles; she moaned, slightly but almost desperately, as the frustration clashed with joy. Frustration over being unable to decipher her own feelings sensibly. Joy over finding Moksha. Frustration over the nearness of the God-programs. Joy over Sombra’s confession. Frustration over her own inability to reciprocate. Joy over Sombra’s lips and fingers in her hair. Frustration. Joy. Frustration. Joy.

The door stopped with a shudder that distracted her out of the steep spiral she was entering, and Symmetra let out a laugh as she withdrew, tears glistening on her cheeks. She still didn’t know what to say, not overall, but she knew  _ one _ thing she wanted to say and looking into Sombra’s gorgeous purple eyes only brought the words thankfully closer to her lips.

“Thank you,” Symmetra whispered with an uneven and wavering smile that Sombra felt just might break her heart. “Thank you so much, Sombra. For everything. I- I-” her eyebrows twisted as her throat clenched shut; the frustration returned and Symmetra didn’t like it.

Sombra saw it, though. Saw the fear and the pain, and it hurt her just as much. “Hey,” she squeezed at the metal hand in hers, stroking a stray bit of hair behind Symmetra’s ear. “It’s cool, Symmy. You don’t have to say anything. I trust you. Let’s uh… let’s just get in and get this field off, huh?” She glanced up toward the ceiling with a snicker and a sniffle. “Totally getting in our heads and making us say shit.”

Symmetra laughed through her tears, brightly and briefly. “Of course! Of course, the field.” She squeezed tightly at Sombra’s hand as they stepped, together, over the threshold into Moksha. “That was all it was…”

 

\---

 

The trenchcoated figure knelt at a canyon’s edge. Metal fingers took up a handful of sandy dirt and clenched it angrily. “Damned tin cans. Always interfering.”

Behind the crouched person, in the distance, a war raged. Hovercraft, wheeled vehicles, aircraft, footsoldiers - theirs against those of the God-programs. Each side had some aces remaining up their sleeves, and others they had already played; the God-programs had brought out one of their Juggernaughts, a fifty-foot-tall omnic with almost absurd tactical capabilities.

In response, Trenchcoat had called down an artillery strike, only a single shell. A nuclear one, developed for the war before the war before last, but there was much that still held power if one knew where to look. As the mushroom cloud started to succumb to the winds and drift to the side, they shook their head at the waste; a whole Juggernaught, reduced to scrap - not to mention everything else.

That hotel, destroyed. That man from the airplane, the flight attendant - what had his name been? It hardly mattered. The bus driver, Sombra’s databanks, their own cover and invisibility. The point was that too much had been thrown under the wheels in this venture. Or, rather, it  _ would _ have been too much, if not for the stakes at hand.

“Sombra, Sombra, Sombra,” the trenchcoated person muttered softly. “You really think you can escape us? We will  _ not  _ entrust the future to a pair of whelps like you.” They activated their radio. “Regroup at the canyon. Bring the particle analyzer.” A brief pause. “Yes, precisely.”

With a chuckle, they knelt again and picked up another handful of dirt. Only faintly ionized, only barely - the teleporter hadn’t been placed here, certainly, but it had been somewhere nearby. Inside the truck, if they had to guess based on the ugly scar carved into the canyon’s edge and the smoke that rose from below. The trenchoated person’s own instilled capabilities weren’t sensitive enough to  _ trace _ the particle ionization to the teleportation matrix’s other end, but luckily, they were neither alone nor without tools.

It was very, very easy to go unnoticed if one knew where one’s prey was. “We will find you,” they sighed to the wind. “We always do, Sombra. You should have joined us while you had the chance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-daaaaa! It's all getting closer! I like this chapter (but then, I like most of them :D) - although I've got to be honest, my head's pretty stuffy right now and I'm sore, so I might've missed some things in editing it and I know there was more I wanted to say here, heh, whoops, but I'm forgetting it at the moment.
> 
> For those who would like a visual, the Marauder would look [ like this, except with a gatling gun on top](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ed/f4/86/edf4869f0aee022a4402a75ea3ef0960.jpg&sa=D&ust=1503440277696000&usg=AFQjCNEC6lzZdla1Yzl3tEkCdaM44a8DOQ). Originally, I'd written the cannon in question as a GE GAU-8 Avenger cannon (the one in the A-10 Warthog anti-tank jets), but I decided to go a little less specific with it, so... yeah, that.
> 
> Little more backstory sprinkled about Vishkar. I think they're an interesting thing to which to dedicate some thought, certainly. Also including my headcanon that all of Sombra's skins (and their different eye colours) are just canonical and they happen >.> Oculus gettin' up to all kinds of shit, too - but who's surprised there?
> 
>  
> 
> Come on back next time when Sombra and Symmy make their way into the facility. I'm sure it'll be that easy, right? (Heh, yeah, _sure_ it will...)  
>  It's about time to meet Shiva.


	14. Infiltration and Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sombra and Symmetra need to breach the Moshka facility - they've made it through one door, but that really only leads them into the entryway. Along the way, they're confronted by a few forces: the omnics, primarily those of the God-program "Shiva" who tries to entice them into a deal; the past, in the remnants of what Vishkar had planned for the facility and the pieces they left behind; as well as, of course, the Oculus once more. They have a deal to offer as well, and it's one that bends an ear their way...

The door slid shut as quietly as it had opened. It was only the first - only the door into the entryway, really. Security measures reacted to their presence; an automated voice informed them they had thirty seconds to disarm the system before it opened fire.

“I can handle it,” Sombra assured, interlacing her fingers and cracking her knuckles.

“You will not,” Symmetra shook her head. “ _ I _ will. It is only a level-one security lockdown; any Architech would easily be able to lift it.” She walked swiftly to the side, onto a blue-glowing pad, and Sombra let her with a shrug.

It gave her an opportunity to look around, at least. In here, there was no rust, no sand, no dust. The whole huge place looked like it had been vacuum-packed, and maybe it had been. She didn’t know. Except for the bodies, there was no sign that anyone had been in here for a decade - although, the bodies were one  _ hell _ of a sign. They scattered the floor of the long and massive hallway. She didn’t really want to look at them, half because they were bodies and half because they meant that somebody else had gotten in here before her.

She found her eyes moving back to Symmy, though, as she made something and held it forward to be scanned. The automated voice announced that the security systems were offline, and Sombra took a step closer. The thing looked like a cube. “Hey, what’s that?”

“A cube.”

Sombra rolled her eyes. “Oh, thanks, that helps me understand.”

“Are you an Architech of the Vishkar Corporation?”

“Uh… no?”

Symmetra flashed her an easy smile. “Then stop trying to understand one’s work.”

Sombra blinked, then burst out with laughter. “Oh c’mon,  _ chica! _ Don’t be like that - you gotta gimme  _ something! _ This is like, the greatest shit I’ve ever seen! I mean,” she inspected her fingernails, purple light dancing between them, “I guess I could just try to find out for  _ myself…” _

Symmetra’s hand closed around hers, and she shook her head. “Sombra. Do not attempt to gain access - the systems woul-”

“Hey, I wasn’t really  _ gonna _ ,” the hacker shrugged. “I mean, not until I need to.”

Symmetra sighed in visible relief, still holding Sombra’s hand and stepping forward. “The cube must be manufactured to precise measurements and of a certain density; a code released to Vishkar Architechs. Higher-level securities required more complex forms.”

Sombra scoffed. “What, and they just expected you to remember that shit?”

“Of course. Do they not expect people to recall any security code? Tell me, what is the access code to the United States Pentagon mainframe?”

“I mean, it rotates every twelve hours, but the  _ first _ time I cracked it it was two two seven Tango Al- oh,” Sombra cut off, tilting her head in confusion. “Okay, yeah, but that’s not the same.”

Symmetra smirked. “I told you you would not understand.”

Sombra looked over with a grin, a huge one. Her  _ chica _ was standing up straight, head high, chin forward - she looked certain, she looked powerful, she looked large and fuckin’ in charge, in her element. “Damn. You are just loving this, aren’t you?”

Symmetra’s smirk split into a toothy grin, although she wavered over that phrasing. Loving? She- she  _ couldn’t _ , she- no, that was too frustrating to think about. Rephrasing would be more simple, and entirely acceptable, in this case at least.

“This is what I have wished to do,” she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “For my entire life, perhaps. I was purposeless before Vishkar; ever since their fall, my purpose has been to carry on their work. I cannot think of a more fitting endeavour than this.” She felt like she was glowing inside. She felt  _ giddy _ , she felt giggly, she felt energetic but in a good way.

“People have been through those doors before,” Sombra murmured, glancing back at the giant slab of steel sliding back into place behind them.

“Yes, I noticed. The security systems have been quite adept at removing their intrusion - however, there is a downside.”

Sombra glanced over with a raised eyebrow, ceasing to walk and laying a hand gently on Sym’s shoulder. “Downside? What kind of  _ downside _ are we talking, here,  _ amiga?” _

Symmetra hesitated for a moment, eyes cast outward before she turned and met Sombra’s gaze. “The sort of downside which causes security measures to be heightened to a greater state, as well as rendered irrevocable until the far control terminal is reached.”

“Oh,” Sombra shrugged, “okay just like, that kinda downside then. You want some jelly beans?” She pulled a bag from one of her pockets and tore the corner off, dropping it to the ground. As she popped a few of the candies into her mouth, she caught Symmetra’s lip curling up the way it always did when she dropped shit on the ground.

“Seriously?” Sombra laughed. “ _ Chica, _ there’s like… fifty corpses in here right now. You’re kidding me with the littering shit, right?”

Symmetra sighed, turning away. “You will need to find some way of maintaining your own order when we board the orbital station. Perhaps I can make a cleaning robot to follow you around.” She studied the long, large hallway they stood in - it would have been spacious enough to fit any vehicle one could easily call to mind, forty metres precisely in each dimension and four hundred long. It sloped down at a grade of two percent.

“You are quite fortunate to have me here,” Symmetra grinned softly, glancing over to Sombra out of the corner of my eye. “Vishkar’s gauntlets are formidable to those unprepared. We must make it to the far end in order to lift the security measures.”

“What? It’s just a hallway, I mean it-” Sombra cut off as she moved to take a step forward and was promptly barred by Symmetra’s prosthetic hand slapping against her chest. “Okay, ow?”

“Give me a moment to determine how we must continue.” The Architech’s eyes - and more importantly, ocular implant - flickered over the hallway’s interior. Every surface held hidden facets. She was uncertain of who designed or constructed this facility, but some of it at least looked like Avi’s work.

“It is not just a hallway,” she explained softly, taking a pace forward, carefully, and pulling Sombra in behind her. “Follow me precisely. Step only where I step. There are a myriad traps and hidden devices in the floors, walls, and ceiling - I have never trod this path before. I must be cautious and read the signs correctly.”

“...what - what  _ signs _ ,  _ chica? _ ” Sombra stared around openly. There was nothing -  _ nothing. _ The walls, the ceiling, the floor, all of them were just flat metal; there wasn’t anything hiding behind a projection, her eyes would’ve picked that out. She could see some wires running through the walls but nothing that seemed that special. Yes, there were some turrets at the sides, and some little pockets of drones waiting to be deployed - and even what appeared to be a fucking  _ flamethrower _ , which Sombra just loved - but they’d de-activated the security, hadn’t they?

“Are you an Architech of the Vishkar Corporation?”

_ “Amiga,  _ I-”

“Then stop trying to understand one’s work.”

Sombra stopped and crossed her arms. “Okay, that shit’s gonna get old fast.” Then Symmy went and giggled and Sombra’s heart did a little squiggly flip and she just had to roll her eyes with a groan.  _ Damn.  _ “How am I supposed to be pissed when you’re being all cute like that?”

“Follow closely,” Symmetra reminded her gently with a smile, taking a graceful step forward. “I will explain as the situation permits. Concentration is vital.” Her next step was off at an angle, and she glanced back briefly to ensure that Sombra was following correctly. She was. Symmetra nodded,

“Were this to be an operational facility, these security measures would be rendered inactive. Surely you must realize that these corpses once lived.” Symmetra gestured loosely to the bodies on the ground - there were a couple dozen of them, and they looked to span a number of years given their states. Not liquefying in decomposition, thankfully, but desiccating and drying, mummifying.

“Yeah, they’ve been trying to get in but they haven’t succeeded.” Sombra frowned a little, looking forward. “Doesn’t look like any of them made it further than a hundred feet or so. I see the turrets and drones in the walls - I just figured these guys didn’t make your little cube back there, and this is as far as they ran in thirty seconds before the security opened fire.”

“They get…” Symmetra shuddered, “ _ fresher _ , as we continue forward. Forty-six metres is the furthest. It is a much more recent body than the one nearest the door.”

Sombra looked over to the side. They were about fifty feet down the hallway now -  _ chica _ was taking her time, but she was right. The corpses back near the door were total mummies, but the ones further down the hall looked more full. Fleshier.

They were also in a bit of a pattern. Eight of them stretched in a line far to the left, and a couple dozen over to the right - not a straight line, and definitely not equally spaced or anything like that. Scattered around like bullet holes of a machine gun trying to shoot a bumblebee. Then, there seemed to be a dozen or so that were all within five or ten feet of where the two of them were walking. Just far enough to have fallen there in death throes.

“These traps and shit you were talking about… there’s fake paths, eh?”

Ahead of her, Symmetra nodded as she leaned off to the side, stretching a long leg backward to balance and placing a small construct on the floor before stepping over onto it - passing the furthest corpse along this line as she did so.

“Precisely,” the Architech nodded, holding out her hand to Sombra with a soft and slightly worried smile. “They’ve been quite lucky and quite persistent to make it as far as they have. They are mapping out the ways through a minefield they could not possibly comprehend…” She cast her eyes around with a sigh, pulling Sombra in close and wrapping an arm around her waist so the two of them could stand easily on the small platform. “In another twenty or thirty years, they might make it to the end door.”

“How’d they get this far in thirty seconds?” Sombra’s face was thick with incomprehension. “Or was that computer chick just full of shit?”

“Have I not heard you say before that anything can be hacked?” Symmetra smirked as Sombra snickered, and the Architech cast her eyes toward the entryway. “I formed my cube from light. Were they to decipher the required density and measurements, there is no reason that they could not manufacture a simulacrum through other means. It would be a laborious process…”

She shivered a little, and Sombra could feel it easily as they stood on the little platform with their arms wrapped around each other. She pulled hers a little tighter, squeezing Symmy in a hug- it was a little bit awkward with the backpacks, but it worked. “Hey, it’s cool. We’re safe, they don’t even know we’re here.”

Symmetra looked to her with momentary confusion, and then a brief laugh. “Oh. That was not a reaction borne of fear, no!” She shook her head with a smile, glancing back toward the entrance. “Realization, rather. Our seeming adversaries are clever, determined, skilled, patient. I respect them.” Her gaze turned a little distant.  _ They remind me of Vishkar in some ways. _

“Come,” she stepped forward off of the platform. “We have some distance to go yet, and we would be better not to rush ourselves.”

The thump from the entrance echoed down the huge hallway and drew both sets of eyes back in a flash.

“Fuck,” Sombra muttered softly, and Symmetra looked over as there was another slam.

“What is it?”

“Well,”  _ slam _ , “I didn’t think the omnics would get smart. There’s a bunch of them at that door, though - we uh… we should go quick,  _ chica.” _

“What?” Symmetra turned away, taking another pace and studying the surroundings swiftly, pulling Sombra along behind her. “I thought you were invisible.”

“I was!” Sombra pulled her gun out and double-checked it - no sand in the workings, everything moving smoothly. “They can’t see me, can’t track me, nothing; no heat signatures, no EMF… but…”

“But  _ what?” _ the Architech prompted, taking three quick paces and then jumping to a distant section. She turned to be able to catch Sombra and ensure she stayed within the safe zone.

“I can’t get rid of my  _ footprints _ , okay?” A frustrated whine as another slam shook the hall and Sombra jumped forward into Symmy’s waiting arms.

“It will be alright.” Symmetra smiled as Sombra’s eyes met hers. “Do not worry. They can not besiege us and they will be unable to follow unless they wish to brave the gauntlet.” They would need to go as far as possible before the omnics entered. She suspected they would be able to discern a likely path from the corpses, and they would certainly be tracking her movements from the moment they could see her.

“Yeah, that’s great  _ chica _ but-” Sombra’s eyes shot back toward the entrance as there was another thud, this one accompanied by a crack. Sizzling, crackling noises heralded the slicers as they started to breach the door completely. Another hit or two and it would fall in completely. “But we’re sitting ducks out here and they’ve got  _ guns _ and shit.”

“No matter,” Symmetra scoffed as she laid a strong hand on Sombra’s shoulder and spun her around, trading places with her. “You have  _ me.” _

As the door flew in, it swung off to the side and bounced off of the wall before falling heavily flat to the floor. It was accompanied by a hail of gunfire and laser blasts, but Symmetra raised her arms and cast a barrier. The projectiles splashed across the glowing blue dome she held in front of her wide, determined grin - she leaned forward into them, weathering the storm of weaponry without a hair displaced or seemingly an ounce of effort.

The omnics didn’t let up for a full thirty seconds, precisely; when no changes were apparent, they stopped firing. Lights on them blinked as they considered.

“Sombra? Four paces forward - one metre steps, precisely. Thank you.” Symmetra didn’t turn her head to call the instructions over her shoulder.

From this point on, the omnics would be mapping her path, she was certain of it. They were already calculating likely losses, she could practically see it in their optisensors. Sombra reached back and took her elbow, guiding her along; Symmetra’s eyes flicked around to determine the next steps in the path. “Two paces left.”

Sombra lifted a foot, then set it back down hesitantly. “Uh…  _ amiga?  _ Your left or my left?”

Symmetra frowned. “Ah. Good point - it would be your left. Thank you.”

“Yeah no problem,” Sombra shrugged easily, laughing. “Just, y’know, don’t wanna get shredded by security systems or anything.”

“Nonsense,” Symmetra chuckled, shaking her head. “You would not be.” She paused for a moment, then shrugged a shoulder. “The Vishkar systems are far more elegant than that. You would not be shredded, simply killed.”

“Yeah, thanks,” the hacker groaned, “that makes me feel  _ so _ much better.”

“You are welcome.”

The omnics took a collective pace forward. “Architech Satya Vaswani, voiceprint recognized. Shiva would speak with you. A bargain can be struck.”

“There shall be no bargain!” Symmetra called back without hesitation. “I know you. You do not bargain, you  _ take. _ I shall not lower my barrier, nor my guard.”

“Hostile forces are in place,” the omnics called as a group. Their lights flickered and the voice changed, shifting from a bland electronic to a smooth, synthetic purr.

“Symmetra. Sombra. You must both be willing to see reason.”

“Shut the fuck up back there! Can’t you see we’re trying to concentrate?” Sombra shouted as Symmy murmured another instruction and she took it, sweat beading at her brow. This kind of shit was  _ not _ what she signed up for - sprinting and jumping, that was all great. “Why the fuck didn’t I just cloak down the hallway and we could do the teleporter thing again?” she whispered back to Symmetra.

“Because you wished to survive,” Sym pointed out softly. “Many of these systems are physical. If you leave footprints in the sand, you would trigger the traps.”

“You know what? Fuck your company for being so damn smart, alright?”

Symmetra laughed lightly. “Visionaries are often hated.”

From near the entrance, the God-program known as Shiva addressed them again through the omnics she controlled. “You are both smart women. Women who wish to survive, yes? Do not think I do not know you. Sombra, you could not even stand against a ramshackle assortment of mercenaries and computer technicians; you would hope to stand against a _ God? _ Symmetra,” she hummed a laugh, “the entirety of  _ Vishkar _ fell to me. You think you could possibly succeed where they failed? Provide me the path, provide me the keys, and I will ensure your survival. Do not, and I will ensure the opposite.”

For a moment, she froze. For a moment - just a moment - Symmetra agreed; it was inarguable. She was  _ not _ more capable than Vishkar had been, she was not stronger, she was not smarter. She had no capacities which they had lacked.

There was a hand on her elbow, clenched tightly. Sombra’s hand. One thing which Vishkar had never had. She was not alone. She was the greatest amongst Vishkar, and with the greatest hacker in the world at her side. They could survive this. They had survived all of the rest. She set her jaw and took a breath to speak.

The omnics advanced. “Oh, I am afraid your time is quite up, ladies. It is not a difficult pattern to parse, now that we have found the entrance - both of them, oh yes, there we are. Delightful. I had nearly spent all that Vishkar had to offer, yet you bring me now such a beautiful new egg of knowledge. A wrapped present. You shall be treated as princes, both of you.”

“You can keep your molten silver,” Symmetra spat back as Sombra moved another pace forward and the omnics halted at the line where the security systems would begin to fire on them.

Shiva laughed through them, an almost deafening echo of velvety electronic laughter down the hallway. “Ah, she knows her history! Very well, then. You shall be… museum exhibits. You  _ may _ even be pets.”

“Sombra, my friend,” Symmetra murmured softly as two Bastion units set up in turret formation alongside an OR unit, six-legged, which began to leap forward carefully. It followed the correct path - for a while, at least, until a slight misstep led it to be dropped to the ground limply by beams which lashed out from the ceilings. Another unit stepped forward and jumped swiftly along the path. “Do you recall when I informed you that you must not attempt to breach Vishkar’s systems in this section of the facility?”

“Yeah.”

“I retract that instruction. Do not be gentle, nor neat.” She snickered. “I suspect the latter will be no issue for you.”

Sombra took a deep breath as the second omnic was cut down like the first, but twenty feet closer. A third leapt past it almost immediately, and moved quickly. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing,  _ amiga…” _

Her fingers glowed purple, tendrils spread out toward the walls - and she had just enough time for a wide, satisfied grin as Shiva’s voice shrieked in horror from behind them.

**_“NO!”_ **

Just about then, all hell broke loose. The walls and ceiling erupted in turrets and drones, the omnics began to rush forward en masse - firing all of their weapons - and Symmetra turned and grabbed at Sombra’s hand, pulling her forward. Sprinting, surrounding the pair of them with a blue bubble which caught laser blasts and bullets and the beams of Vishkar’s security alike.

The hallway filled with chaos, and Symmetra tried to block it out - mostly successfully. It was outside. She had the barrier. The barrier would protect them. It would separate the chaos from order. She pulled Sombra to the side, avoiding a section of floor which would collapse under a person’s weight; then Sombra yanked her back and pulled her away from a hidden explosive. She’d intended to leap over it, but sidestepping was perfectly sufficient.

They ran as quickly as they could, which was quite quickly indeed. Sombra spun around, unleashing her machine pistol with a harsh grin that glittered in the flashes of fire, her eyes glowing bright purple. Systems highlighted weak spots, injured omnics - she focused on them first. Shredded them before they could flee and start to self-repair. She could barely even hear her own gun amongst the noise.

Symmetra could hear it. She whimpered softly, but there was nothing for it - it simply needed to be borne. She pulled the barrier in a little bit tighter to conserve energy. Her levels were lowering. This was never an intended purpose nor a foreseen circumstance, but the omnics were drawing much of the security system’s attention. The two of them alone would never have been able to take the full brunt of Vishkar’s wrath. Thankfully, the omnics seemed to be nearly endless.

Less thankfully, they were contributing damage as well. The door was nearing, her barrier was draining and draining.

“Sombra, stand  _ right _ next to me,” Symmetra huffed as they made it to the next set of doors, but the hacker didn’t hear over the sound of her machine pistol blaring and her own laughter. Symmetra reached out and pulled her in tight, and Sombra didn’t fight - she wrapped an arm around Sym and stretched the other out, firing behind her back at any omnic that got too close. A gazelle-like one over there leapt off of another, springing between lashing beams and unleashing a machine gun of its own - Sombra cut its leg off with a stream of bullets, and then destroyed its head as it stumbled upon hitting the ground.

Clips fell to the floor, instantly being replaced by new ones slammed into place from a little module at Sombra’s hip. She saw flashes of blue out of the side of her vision, and Symmetra turned and placed her lips  _ right _ on her ear.

“You must lift the security lockdown. Precisely when I say - hold it for a moment to let the door back. It will not open while the security is active.”

“Got it,  _ chica!” _ Sombra shouted, flashing a thumbs-up. Her machine-pistol flashed in bursts instead of streams as she occupied her other hand with worming into Vishkar’s systems. They tried to fight, they flashed up firewalls and dodged left and right; jumped segments from here to there - they were fast, but she was  _ Sombra _ , and nothing was going to keep her out of here anymore.

Symmetra wove another cube, this one with a hollow in the centre: spherical, with a percentile deformity. A level three code. Any higher she did not yet know, but they would figure that out - this door was a true blast door, the omnics would not be able to so easily burn through it. It would take them hours at the very least, more likely days.

“NOW!” Symmetra shouted, shaking with the effort it took to maintain the barrier at the same time as forming a construct. She held the cube in hand now, though, and Sombra nodded.

She grabbed that chunk of security code she’d found and ripped it away, holding it separated from everything else that tried to access it - the bright blue beams from the ceilings and walls ceased to glare, and the door started sliding back. The omnics came quickly.  _ Very _ quickly. Sombra gunned them down left and right, as best she was able.

Symmetra just watched the door as it slid back. The opening was at the far side of the hallway. She did not know how quickly it would close, but it would need to not close on them - the instant Sombra released her hold, the door would begin to shut again. She counted calmly behind the chaos.  _ Tick tock, tick tock. _

“Now, go,” the Architech grabbed at Sombra’s hand and dashed forward - they sprinted in unison toward the opening. Sombra tried to hold off as much as she could, but the code slipped through her fingers as they ran and the beams flashed forth once more as door started to slide shut again, much faster than it had opened. It was a few feet thick of shining metal alloy, and the gap was only a few feet wide. Symmetra ran through, Sombra sprinting behind - she’d always been a fast runner.

A metal hand snatched at Sombra’s leg, tripping her and clamping painfully around her foot. She yelled as she slammed forward to the ground, the gun clattering out of her hand when it hit the floor - she kicked out with her other foot, trying to drag herself forward as the omnic pulled her back within the door’s range.

A bright flash flew over her head, a blue orb which glowed and crackled as Symmetra screamed and flung it forward. It melted the omnic’s head to slag which dripped into the blast door’s heavy tracks, and she grabbed at Sombra and yanked her backward out of the way as the door slid into place, crushing what was left of the machine.

For a few minutes, they lay there and panted. There were no sounds that made it through the door’s mass.

Symmetra took those moments to think, to breathe, to count; to allay the encroaching horrors of gunfire and metal screams, to push back the memories of Vishkar’s fall and the absolute fragmenting horror which had overtaken her when Sombra was in danger. It took a great deal of effort.

Sombra just tried to catch her breath and whimpered a little, grabbing at her ankle. It hurt a lot, twisted or sprained, but she’d be damned if that would slow her down.

“There- I’ll tell you - one thing,  _ amiga!” _ Sombra panted heavily in gaps between words, laying her head back on the floor with a laugh. “Traveling with you’s never boring.”

Symmetra started to chuckle, the gesture slowly growing to a bright laugh. “Oh, well, I aim to please. Perhaps for our next vacation we could do something less dangerous, like surfing a volcano or playing hopscotch in a minefield?”

“Pfft,” Sombra shook her head heavily, “what kind of vacation activity is  _ hopscotch?” _

“I  _ like _ hopscotch!”

“Okay, okay, fine, we can play minefield hopscotch,” Sombra chuckled, managing some more even breaths. “There, are you happy now?”

“No,” Symmetra shook her head, turning over and pushing herself up onto one knee, bending over Sombra and slipping a hand behind her head. She pulled the hacker up, latched onto those purple lips and used that to remind herself that she was there, she was safe. They both were. Nothing would happen to her, to either of them. Omnics, Oculus - they could try, and they would fail.

“Now, I am happy,” Symmetra sighed when she broke off the kiss.

“Damn,” Sombra giggled, “if I could’ve walked before, I  _ definitely _ couldn’t now. That thing you do with your tongue,  _ amiga- _ ”

“You mean this one?” Symmetra grinned and leaned down, stroking the tip of her tongue along the backside of Sombra’s lips and getting a rough shiver in return.

“Yes. That one. But seriously, my ankle’s fuckin’ killing me here.”

Symmetra frowned down to the purportedly injured joint as Sombra clutched at it with a hiss, but it didn’t  _ look _ bad. Not likely broken, not bleeding. “Here - remain still, I can form a brace for you.” She knelt and lifted Sombra’s calf with her organic hand, waving the prosthetic around the ankle. Blue light flickered and weaved, and wavered for an instant before solidifying.

“That took more power than I had expected,” Symmetra murmured with a glance back toward the blast door they’d just come through. “Certainly more than I had hoped.” Her eyes drifted the opposite way then, further into the facility. Lights here shone brightly on the spotless floor, but away from the door there was little illumination, only darkness and dim shapes lurking within it, lit by small emergency lamps. Enough light not to trip, but that was all.

For ten metres from the door, there was nothing - empty space the same height as the hallway outside. A similar path was open forward, level rather than sloping downward, and off to either side were buildings that looked like any building in Utopaea had. Running from floor to ceiling, but otherwise seemingly no different for being underground. It was reassuring to see again;  _ this _ felt like home.

“The facility will be in a hibernative state, largely,” Symmetra offered Sombra a hand to help her to her feet. The hacker stood gingerly, testing the brace that held tight around her ankle. It worked well - didn’t mean her leg didn’t hurt, but it helped a lot. She could walk, at least, and actually quite easily.

“Yeah, I figured,” Sombra pulled the straps of her backpack tighter. “If they broke our booze bottles, I’m gonna be pissed.”

Symmetra chuckled lightly, shaking her head. “Ah. It is good to see your priorities remain unchanged.”

“You know it,  _ amiga! _ ” She snickered before shooting a furtive glance back toward the door. “So, uh… that bitch said  _ both _ entrances.”

“Liars will say anything,” Symmetra shook her head brusquely. “It matters not. We must power up the facility and make our way to the launch platform. One entrance or twenty,  _ our _ task remains unchanged.”

“I got the facility layout from those files we snagged,” Sombra brought a screen up to hover in front of her, turning and leading the way. “You sure there’ll be no security in here? How’s your arm doing?”

With a laugh, Symmetra shook her head. “I never said that in the slightest. In fact, with the external systems engaged fully, there will certainly be measures deployed in here. We must find the security control centre as soon as possible after enabling power. We are only lucky the facility did not  _ shut down _ under a state of assault - the measures in here would be quite active even under emergency power, surely.”

“Well, I can flip the switch from pretty much anywhere,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra explained. “I know these generators - Adamite Mark Five, they’re self-starting and really reliable as long as you don’t try to exceed nominal max output. I got the hard-start codes for them a few years back when I needed to get into a missile silo for-” she waved her hand with a grunt. “Never mind, not important. Anyway, you dodged the question.”

Symmetra paused as Sombra caught her elbow gently, and turned to look at wide purple eyes and a slight frown. She looked down to her prosthetic, the last hard-light generator out in the world as far as she knew, and she sighed. “That encounter was draining. The internal power source has been depleted to fifteen percent of its maximum capacity.” Her eyes flicked nervously to the door. “It had been eleven. It has recharged by four percent since we entered.”

“Fuck,” Sombra sighed. “We should have you as good as possible before we turn the lights on. Four percent already though, eh? So it’s not too slow.”

“Once the power is enabled, I should be able to restore my levels by drawing from the facility.” Symmetra nodded her head, but hesitated. “Perhaps a slight buffer would be worth waiting for, however. Just in case.”

Sombra’s hand squeezed at Symmy’s lightly and she tugged her off to the side, down a hallway. “Well, I got something I wanted to show you anyway. It’ll take a few minutes, so that’s convenient.”

 

\---

 

The barracks here were standard for a Vishkar facility, and it brought a nice little shiver down Symmetra’s spine. It was followed by a sad lurch at the reminder of the loss of Utopaea. There, she’d had private quarters - these barracks were the same as those she’d stayed in at the Architech’s Academy. A large, low room with two dozen single beds dotting the perimeter, each accompanied by a desk and two lockers, with a shelf mounted on the wall above the desk. She knew all of the measurements precisely.

Most people had set pictures of family members on their shelves at the Academy. Symmetra had set a scrap of fabric on hers, bright purple. It was all she’d had at the time.

These shelves were blank. These beds, untouched; nobody had stayed here, ever.

Sombra went immediately to a locker, her eyes showing everything quite clearly in the dim light. The lock opened in a moment at her touch and she pulled the door wide, grinning almost immediately.

“One thing I can say for your Vishkar  _ amigos, chica? _ They definitely planned ahead.”  _ Maybe they should’ve spent a little more effort watching the present, instead. _ Sombra turned around with an outfit on a hanger - wrapped in plastic, a pristine Architech’s uniform.

Symmetra’s eyes glistened at the sight of it, wide and almost afraid. She had thought, once or twice, about employing a tailor to create a mimicry of the uniform - but it seemed like that would result in  _ mockery _ more than  _ mimicry _ , and she had ceased the pursuit promptly.

This, though, was no mockery. This was the genuine article, packaged precisely as hers had been when she first received it. It had been the proudest day of her life up until that point, the  _ best _ day of her life up until that point.

This felt better.

Symmetra stepped forward steadily, never wavering as she strode to take the package from Sombra’s outstretched hands. When her eyes fell upon the nameplate, however, her knees did wobble and she sat roughly to the bed, tears streaming from her eyes as her fingertip traced at the stitching through the plastic.  _ Vaswani. _ That had been her name, under Vishkar - there it was, stitched into the uniform.  _ Her _ uniform.

“You were supposed to be stationed here,  _ chica,” _ Sombra smiled softly, her voice nearly choked off entirely. She forced a laugh. “I told you, Sombra doesn’t miss a trick! She knows shit about people they don’t- don’t even know about themselves.” 

The hacker cleared her throat as she sat down on the bed next to the perfectly-still and staring Symmetra whose eyes were running like waterfalls. She didn’t seem to be breathing, though. It was scaring her a little. “ _ Chica?  _ Please tell me this is alright.”

“I-” Symmetra sniffed heavily, face contorting as it tried to smile and frown at the same time. “I- it hurts. Greatly. But I- my heart swells. It- it is… overwhelming.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Sombra urged, laying an arm around her shoulders, “take a minute, we’ve got time. I’m sorry.”

Symmetra wept openly, the tears rolling off of the uniform’s plastic wrapper without effect. She hated this conflict. Knowing one thing and knowing another. The mutual exclusivity of fact. She could not love and she knew it. Yet she had these feelings for Sombra. They could not be love, but they could not be anything less. It was so frustrating, so very frustrating and she felt as if the conflict were tearing her in half even as it crushed her.

She could do nothing but weep and run her fingertip over that name, again and again, as the thumb of her other hand stroked at Sombra’s finger - index, from the second joint to the third, and back, and back again…

 

\---

 

Sombra finished flicking through the files for the fiftieth time as Symmetra got changed. She’d insisted on going off into the bathroom so she could take advantage of a mirror. Sombra was hoping, desperately hoping, that she’d find something buried in the incomplete files that she’d never found before - but she didn’t, of course. It just wasn’t there to be found.

“Well, fuck,” she sighed to herself and laid back on the bed. It wasn’t very soft, and didn’t seem like it would be comfortable. The whole place was a little sterile for her liking, but that was just how it was before people moved in, probably - her old place had been real empty back when it was half-constructed as a subway, but she’d fixed that up. She could fix up the station, too.

She wondered again, for maybe the thousandth time since she’d found out, what it would  _ look _ like up there. How big was the station? Artificial gravity, or would she just float? How was the Earth going to look from up there - were the hydroponics already working, would there be food waiting?

What remained of Vishkar’s files had been very fragmented, very spotty. A lot had been lost since the organization fell, and she suspected that a lot hadn’t even been written down to start with. There were no published specs at all about the station, no solid data -  _ nothing. _ No plans, no schematics; there were  _ mentions _ of them, of a database and a low-quality class-four AI who had helped to design it all, or something like that. Translating it all through different languages hadn’t really helped the information, either.

That wasn’t important, though. The important part was that it was  _ there -  _ and once they got up there, Symmy could build whatever they wanted. The sky wasn’t even the limit anymore.

Sombra sat up from the bed as she heard footsteps, a wide grin overtaking her lips at the sight of Symmetra. Her hair was gathered back in a tight bun, and the uniform looked perfect. Blue with gold, the Vishkar colours - long pants that went over her boots and split up the front, and an overcoat that made it just about halfway down her thighs. The whole thing was precisely fitted, and Sombra wanted to meet whoever had tailored it and give them a high-five. 

She looked perfect  _ in _ it, too - they fit each other beautifully, and Sombra liked the look on her  _ chica’s _ face. Resolute, determined,  _ powerful. _

Symmetra raised her prosthetic, swirling it and her other hand for a moment before plucking the result from her palm. She strode over and set it on the desk which had been intended for her at one point - a small rendition of Vishkar’s logo. She dipped her head and said silent thanks, and set her old uniform - folded neatly - on the bed.

“ _ Chica, _ you look…” Sombra trailed off, shaking her head as words failed her.

Symmetra only turned to her with a smile. “Come. We have much to do. The world will wait no longer.”

“Damn straight it won’t,” she chuckled, pushing herself up from the bed. “Now, good news and bad news. Bad news first. There’s no security codes to this place - I’ve looked through every file I ever found, they’re not in there. Good news?” Her grin sharpened. “ _ I’m _ here. There’s a lot of locks with no keys - but why should that stop us from having fun, right?”

“I suppose you expect me to ensure your safety from the Vishkar security systems while you probe around in the systems?” Symmetra smirked.

“Promise I’ll make it worth your while,  _ amiga, _ ” Sombra chuckled and walked out of the barracks, leading the way quickly through dimly-lit hallways. Everywhere else in the world she’d been looked like an old corpse, but this place was more like a pristine body that had never even received a soul to start with. It was, if anything, more chilling than the alternative.

The security centre was not far at all, and Sombra reclined into a chair there with a grin, shoving out with her feet to send it rolling back into the middle of the room, give or take. Symmetra adjusted the chair a few feet to the left, centring it wordlessly, and then moved to the doors. “Give me a moment to place barriers, then you may begin. They should ensure our safety.”

Two blue energy shields filled the open doorways, just as she’d replaced the Marauder’s window before. Sombra watched as she worked, and it looked just as beautiful as it always did. Maybe even a little more. Symmetra gave her a nod and she grinned, waving a hand loosely through the air.

“Hold tight, boys and girls,” she chuckled, “it’s go time.” The generators leapt to life - power levels starting low but ramping up swiftly; brief spikes to over one hundred twenty percent output that quickly settled back down to forty as the reactors stabilized. The lights all came on as one, glowing and glaring - the drain on the generators spurred them up to fifty-five percent output, but Sombra quickly stopped paying attention to that as other systems activated.

The facility’s internal security, when it came online, first checked with the external security. Upon receiving the reports of breaches, it immediately enacted a lockdown and detected their presence in the security room as hostile. A turret protruded from the corner of the ceiling, but Symmetra calmly stood in place with a blue barrier held forth. Laser pulses flashed against it in futility as Sombra, safely behind her, worked through the layers of security.

Shells and firewalls fell before her, and soon she encountered a bit of a problem, but only a bit of one. She cut off a segment of the program and the defences deactivated, the turret ceasing its fire and sliding smoothly back up into the ceiling.

“Well done,” Symmetra nodded, and Sombra shrugged a shoulder.

“Ehh, it was fine. Disabled the system entirely - not the best way, maybe, but the fastest.”

“Of course,” Symmetra murmured, rolling her eyes.

“Hey,” Sombra nudged her with a grin, “I didn’t hear any complaints about my speed on the plane!”

With a giggle, Symmetra shook her head and gestured toward the door. The blue barriers fell out of the way. “Lead the way onward. Let us leave this place behind.”

The facility continued to power itself on automatically, distant hums and rumblings heralding systems turning themselves on and running self-checks after a decade in stasis. All of the screens in the security room flashed on, and a moment later, flashed something that chilled Sombra’s blood even as it brought it to a boil: the symbol of the Oculus.

“Of course,” she shook her head, gritting her teeth. “Of  _ fucking _ course - you know, I was hoping that for once in their shitty existences the omnic might’ve done something right and got rid of you.”

A voice chuckled from the speakers, smooth and soft and indistinguishable. “They could no more kill us than you could run from us, Sombra.” The voice sighed. “We had such high hopes for you.”

“Yeah, well, you’re one group of  _ pendejos _ I’m happy to disappoint,” she muttered, crossing her arms.

_ “Yeah, that’s… that’s fair, amiga.”  _ Sombra’s eyes widened as her voice started playing through the speakers. _ “I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t know- they were following us somehow. Didn’t seem like it was purely digital, they knew a little too much, so I thought they must have some kind of analog surveillance going on. I couldn’t say anything in case they were listening.” _

“You always have been one step behind us, Sombra,” the voice chuckled softly. “It’s getting to the point where besting you isn’t even fun anymore. It’s simply too easy.  _ Such _ a disappointment you turned out to be.”

The hacker had no snarky response this time. She couldn’t think of anything to say, couldn’t think of anything to do except be terrified of how deep Oculus’ fingers went. They’d been listening in the hotel room? They’d  _ wanted _ her and Symmy to get in here - to start up the facility, to lay all of the pieces out for them nice and easy.

So they could just come along and take it.

Symmetra stepped forward and stood firmly, addressing the screen. “You will not win this fight. I suggest you leave now and cut your losses - the omnics are quite occupied attempting to gain access to the facility. You could perhaps take advantage of Shiva’s distraction.”

There was a pause, a moment before the speakers hummed again. “An interesting tactic, attempting to distract us away to alternate endeavours, but futile. No, we  _ will _ be taking control of the Moksha facility and we will be using it for  _ our _ ends - the pair of you cannot be entrusted with such power.”

“And you believe  _ you _ can be?” Symmetra countered softly, glaring at the screen which still showed nothing more than the symbol she’d seen splashed all over Sombra’s former home. “Who are you people? You…  _ Oculus? _ ”

The voice laughed briefly. “Ah, yes, Sombra’s moniker, of course. We have no need for such things -  _ we _ know who we are, and the rest of the world does not, which is precisely what we desire. What need have we for a name? Simply put, we are an organization which has realized certain truths of the world. Namely, that it cannot be entrusted with its own safety - a truth I daresay you yourself espouse, Satya.”

There was another brief pause. “It is not yet too late to join us. We  _ will _ win this day with, as we have won all the others - with or without you, but your skills? Your vision? They would be invaluable additions to our cause in the larger scheme of things.”

Symmetra looked away from the screen, meeting Sombra’s eyes. The hacker shook her head desperately - on the verge of tears, it seemed, but it was not an offer without its merits and it deserved consideration.

This apparently nameless organization had seemingly been in advance of them for the duration of their travels: they had uncovered Sombra previously and forced her to create a new identity, only to uncover her again. They had discovered Symmetra’s secrets as well, and her whereabouts. They had already know about the Moksha facility and had been making impressive progress on the gauntlet. In another twenty years or so, they may even have breached the facility proper.

They were clearly intelligent. They were clearly skilled. They were clearly capable. Any enemy of the God-programs was an enemy of hers, certainly - any enemy of  _ Shiva’s _ . They reminded her of Vishkar, in some ways.

She would ensure their safety, hers and Sombra’s. Whatever that meant.

“If…” Symmetra began, softly. “ _ If _ we were to join you… what would that entail?”

The voice laughed again even as Sombra recoiled in horror. “ _ We?  _ No, the offer does not extend to you both. Sombra had her chance and wasted it - this extends only to  _ you, _ Satya.”

Now it was the Architech’s turn to laugh. Briefly, derisively, dismissively. “Oh? You need answer no further questions, nor agonize yourself waiting. It does not take long for me to say  _ no.” _

She turned and strode curtly out of the door, catching Sombra’s hand and pulling her along. She waved one of her blue barriers into place behind them as they stepped through the doorway.

“ _ Amiga,  _ that-”

“If there is no room for you at my side, I would not have it,” Symmetra shook her head sharply. It hurt again, her insides writhing painfully against themselves; that conflict. It would need to be rectified, but now was not the time.

Sombra didn’t have any words to say to that. All she could do was squeeze at Symmy’s hand and lead the way toward the launch platform. For a few minutes they walked quickly through the well-lit and gleaming corridors. “They’re through the doors, now. Oculus. One of the other entrances.” Sombra snickered. “Man, omnics too. They really want to throw us a party!”

Symmetra’s eyes flashed over to her, to the grin and the gleaming eyes, the mask of laughter. She had started to recognize that for what it was - every difficult situation ended in a laugh, every stress resulted in a chuckle and a joke, save for a few. As long as she was still laughing, it could be alright.

The only thing she feared was when Sombra  _ stopped _ laughing. Then, it might be truly hopeless. Right now, though, it was so far from that - right now, hope was nearer than it had ever been.

“I’ve never enjoyed parties,” Symmetra admitted with a smirk, “but today, I believe I will make an exception to that rule…”  _ Let them come. Let them dash themselves upon the rocks. Let them fall and kneel before us. The new world will rise. Moksha. Freedom. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there we go! Symmy's still having a bit of a hard time coming to terms with things (namely, loving Sombra) but it takes time! They've totally got plenty of time left. Sorta.
> 
> Anyway, the molten silver reference is to a rumoured historical practice of killing princes by pouring molten silver into their eyes, because they deserved wealth (or something?) I'll be honest, I didn't actually find any good documentation on it. I literally read it in a book once, so I'm taking _that_ author's word on it, heh - and to make matters worse? Don't even remember the book. I remember that the world got cut up throughout history - so sections of Earth from the future were right next to chunks of Medieval times, and prehistoric, etcetera. I remember there were these golden orbs that floated everywhere and where presumed to be responsible for this phenomenon; I remember that there was a scene where it was discovered that, paradoxically, taking measurements from those orbs and carrying out calculations resulted in a measurement of 3.00 rather than pi. I remember the molten silver scene, where one character manages to convince a band of (maybe Mongolians?) that he's a prince, and they decide to treat him accordingly. That's uh... literally what I based that exchange off of, heh  >.>
> 
> ...if anybody recognizes that book and knows the name? I'd love to read it again, because it's been over a decade and I can't remember much, heh, but I think I recall it being pretty good overall? Anyway.
> 
> So yeah, how about that Shiva bitch, huh? I'll be honest that resulted in some tough scenes to write - loads of things moving and happening all at once! It was fun to get to explore Vishkar a little more, though. They don't seem to do anything the standard way, you know? So it was kind of fun to make up defence systems for them that were a little less ordinary.
> 
> Also, I loved getting to write In Charge Symmetra, because she's awesome and deserves to kick ass - and she _definitely_ gets to kick some ass in this chapter. She's beautiful, and badass, and I love her - and Sombra too, of course! With all the laughing, the secrets, the whirling maelstrom of purple and swear and bullets, she's great!
> 
> Come on back next time when they team up to fight their way through the facility, and make it to the launch control room. Sadly, there's always another shoe to drop. Or two.


	15. Party Time.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The door is closed, the lights are out, the butter's getting hard - it's party time. Symmetra has a brand new Architech's uniform and a steely glint in her eye, Sombra has a grin and a machine pistol, and all the Oculus and the omnics have are a massive number of soldiers flooding the complex. They don't have a chance.  
> The path to the launch bay isn't clear at first, but a little quick thinking deals with that. Then, there's only one thing left to do: prepare and launch the rocket.  
> It's as simple as that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: PAIN. I've read it a dozen times and I still tear up when I do - I don't know if it'll come across that way for everyone else, it might just be me because of what went into it, but this one hurts. But it's worth it. Other warning: blood, death, violence, noise, Symmetra gets assaulted by some overstimulation.

“They’re spreading through the facility pretty quick,” Sombra muttered as the almost jogged down the hallways. Her eyes glowed and flicked between screens. “They’re fighting each other a lot - take a left here.”

They’d swapped off, in a manner of speaking. Sombra still directed them but it was Symmetra who actually walked at the front, hand-in-hand with the hacker and striding confidently along as directed.

“They’re all around,” Sombra rubbed at her chin with her free hand. “Fuck, can’t get around ‘em. Well, you ready to have some fun,  _ amiga?” _

“Your sort of fun or my sort of fun?”

Sombra snickered, grinning widely. “Oh, why choose just  _ one _ , right? One thing, though - I’m killing the fuck out of all these guys. Any ones we see.”

Symmetra didn’t pause physically, but neither did she respond immediately. For a few seconds she pulled them along in silence before taking a slow breath. “Must you?”

_ “Must _ I? No,” Sombra shook her head, “but these guys all ruined my life in one way or another. Oculus, Omnic, they don’t deserve shit from me anymore.” She hesitated for a second - she really didn’t want this to be an issue. “I’m not asking you to kill them. I’m just telling you  _ I’m _ going to. That alright?”

The Architech took a deep breath and let it out through her nose. It wasn’t ideal. The circumstance was dire, though. These omnics did not truly live anyway, and the men, the members of Oculus, they were…

...they were her larger issue. She did have respect for the organization, or at least what she knew of it. However, she also knew what they had done to Sombra. Her thoughts flicked to Oso, which provided all the answer she needed. “Of course it is alright. I will not ask you to hold back, nor will I stop you.”

“Thanks,” Sombra sighed in relief. “That’s… that’s really good to hear, Symmy. Look, I know you don’t like it or whatever, but these guys-”

“They have cast in their lots,” Symmetra shook her head curtly. “As I have cast mine. I will offer any I encounter the opportunity to lay down their arms and leave. I suspect none will accept.”

“I doubt you’re wrong there,  _ chica. _ Now uh - I’m gonna go invisible. Just head into that room and do what comes naturally, okay? See ya in a sec,” Sombra leaned forward to peck a kiss on Symmy’s cheek before waving her camouflage on and double-checking her machine pistol. Fully loaded.

_ Please, please, please do not lay down your guns when she asks you.  _ Sombra was really looking forward to a little payback, and if they were disarmed she might need to console herself with a little unconsciousness and some light beatings. That didn’t sound nearly as satisfying.

However, at the same time she knew - regardless of what she’d said to Symmy - that she wouldn’t kill any of them if they were actually non-hostile. Not face-to-face at least, but she was doing what she could to pop up some security measures here and there throughout the facility. The camera feeds and distant sounds of fighting brought a grin to her invisible lips.

_ One hell of a party. _

 

\---

 

For the tenth time, Jeremy familiarized himself with the little icons on the tactical display in his helmet. Small pictures of two female faces: two targets, plus the open order to gun down any omnics that he ran across. He and the others had a bet going on - ten points for a basic tin can, twenty-five for an OR unit, Bastion, or Eradicator. One hundred for either of the primary targets.

Definitely a points system that was slanted in favour of whoever shredded the most omnics, but then, that was pretty much the objective. Right now, Johnson from squad Echo was in the lead - she had a hundred seventy-five points. The game hadn’t started until they’d breached the facility.

He was just glad he wouldn’t need to watch one more round of the Gauntlet. Some of the others loved it and he knew they did, but it just felt a little dumb to him. They should be grabbing prisoners or some shit, to run it for them - not sending their own soldiers down there.

Of course, he didn’t get to make decisions. He didn’t really care, it was just nice to have a break from the endless circling with the omnics. The tin cans had known for a long time that the facility was  _ somewhere _ near here, but not exactly where. Dumb bots never looked much further than their own noses - relied on all kinds of detection methods and never thought to ask around and look in books. If they couldn’t pull it from databases or see it in a seismic readout or an EM scan, they couldn’t find it.

Although, they’d managed sooner or later. Jeremy heard a noise and snapped his hand up, palm flat, rifle at the ready and trained on the next corner. Something glowed, reflecting off of the far wall a little. An Eradicator, maybe.

The ex-Vishkar agent stepped around the corner, enclosed in a bright blue bubble. She met his eyes solidly. “I will offer you one opportunity, and I will offer it only once. Lay down your weapons, and I will permit you to leave unharmed.”

He scoffed at her offer. “Is that all?” With a glance to the other members of his squad, he laughed. 

Sure, she had the shield, but there were also six of them and only one of her. He pulled the trigger and the rifle kicked back into his shoulder as it flared - kicked hard, much harder than it should have. It almost ripped free of his grip and he heard a grunt as Adrienne next to him doubled over.

“ _ Hola,” _ a voice came from nowhere as a rapid-fire weapon opened up, sending Adrienne to the floor in a splatter of blood. Some kind of electronic distortion shimmered, purple and bright but it flashed out as he brought his rifle to bear and knocked it back into his face.

Symmetra watched in awe from behind her barrier. The six soldiers reacted almost instantly to Sombra’s presence, firing in bursts and lashing out with their rifle-butts, but they were helpless. She leapt to the wall and kicked off, bringing her knee crashing into the helmet of one of the soldiers. The momentum carried her to another who swung their rifle, but she caught it against one hand and fired a burst into the soldier’s head point-blank with her pistol.

She danced and whirled through the room, dodging blows and shots until all six soldiers lay on the ground. Some were dead, some were probably not, and Sombra stood in the middle of them, reloading with a grin.

“You are most impressive to watch,” Symmetra nodded as she stepped forward, over bodies either comatose or deceased. She preferred not to think of it, so she did not.

The loss of capable people was lamentable, but there was no difference between a person who would refuse to contribute and one who was dead - save for the fact that the latter would not drain resources. These men, even worse than simply abstaining, were actively  _ obstructing _ progress.

Those lines of thought, of reasoning, of justification, helped a little - but she was still glad that she would not need to pull the trigger any time soon. The world had numbed her greatly to killing, yet still it irked her.

“Thanks,  _ chica!” _ Sombra grinned widely. “You’re pretty impressive too! C’mon, let’s get out of here. We got bigger fish to fry.” She reached out with a hand that was slightly splattered in blood.

Symmetra’s eyes fixed on it. She reached out but could not quite bring herself to take the bloodied hand.

Sombra’s grin faltered for a moment as she dropped her eyes to her hand, and then further to the crumpled figures on the ground. She didn’t feel bad in the slightest about the ones who were dead, not even now, and she would have happily popped a few rounds into all of the survivors. At the same time, though, her gut wrenched at the thought that anything would keep Symmy from touching her. Whether it was the blood or the death, she didn’t really care.

Something had to give.

Slowly, Sombra wiped her hand clean on her pants. She slid her machine pistol carefully into its holster and shook her head as she looked down at the bodies. “I… I hate them, Sym. I  _ hate _ them. It-” she clenched her jaw, bringing a hand up to her face. It felt like there was a fire in her, raging and roaring and she just wanted to stoke it higher - but she didn’t want to deal with the scorch marks afterward.

It had never really been something she’d been great at, impulse control. When it mattered for survival, or for her goals, sure - but not just randomly. This really wasn’t random, though. Sombra sighed heavily as she shook her head.  _ This is about her. If that’s not a goal, I don’t know what is. _

Symmetra’s hand on her shoulder broke her train of thought. “I knew this would happen. It- I simply-” she made a slight noise and her eyes flicked downward, but she forced them away from the carnage she stood in. “Please. Let us leave this all behind.”

“All of it,” Sombra promised with a nod.  _ The world, the killing, the hatred… everything. _

Reading the meanings behind words had always seemed like a farce to Symmetra. A joke that people told each other - to listen to what was meant, instead of what was  _ said. _ How could anyone possibly? The meaning was within the words. There was nothing else.

In time, she had started to learn when people were speaking in their codes, had started to realize  _ when _ there was meaning behind the words, but she still could not decipher what that meaning was. She would try, and try, and fail and fail, leaving her only frustrated and all the more confused in the wake of it.

She did not know what Sombra meant when she said “all of it,” but she knew that it wasn’t simply what it sounded like. She knew that the hacker didn’t only mean to leave the bodies behind in the room as they carried on into the facility.

Sombra could see the frozen confusion sparkling in Symmetra’s eyes, in the way her eyebrows tugged inward, the faint frown on her lips. “Everything,” she reiterated, meeting those gorgeous golden eyes directly and without hesitation. “Leave everything behind. Hatred, vendettas, everything. I’ll try, at least - I-” she dropped her eyes. “I’ll try, okay?”

A finger lifted her chin before Symmetra met her lips, hand stroking back along her jaw. “You will find it quite hard to slay anyone in space,” she murmured softly with a faint smile. “Only I will be there, and I daresay you would be incapable of such a thing.”

“Yeah,” Sombra snickered, wiping a tear from her cheek. “Sounds about right.” Symmy’s hand slid down her arm, a little hesitantly maybe but it didn’t stop until their fingers intermeshed and Sombra sighed, leaning to rest her forehead on Symmetra’s shoulder.  _ I love you. _

It didn’t hurt as much to think now that she’d said it. Even if it had only been once and she’d kind of taken it back a second later.

“Let us continue,” Symmetra murmured softly, kissing at Sombra’s temple. With her so near, hand-in-hand, that now-familiar scent of brown sugar and faint lavender in her nostrils driving away the sharp tang of gunpowder and blood; with all of that, it was so easy to ignore the rest. With Sombra here, it was easy not to focus on the death. “My own life has not been without its fatal actions. I simply-” she cut off and glanced down to Sombra’s hand in hers, much cleaner now. “The blood, I-”

“Hey, it’s okay,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra shook her head and tugged her along, out of the room. If her  _ chica _ liked blood that little, she definitely didn’t need to be in there. “Let’s just get on to the launch control room, okay?”

It wasn’t far away. They ducked into a corner as a small squad of Oculus troops sprinted past, the deafening fire of an entrenched Bastion unit sounding from the far end of the hallway. The troops reconvened and pulled out pieces which they quickly screwed together into a large rocket launcher, one which took two of them to fire. After its explosion, the Bastion was no longer firing, and the squad ran back down the hallway in that direction. Symmetra and Sombra sprinted across behind them into the room on the far side.

A cafeteria, it seemed - a dozen long tables with benches on either side, and up against one side were the facilities to actually serve the food. None had ever been used, of course, but they stood ready now - lights blinking happily as drink machines offered to dispense their wares now that all the automatic self-diagnoses were finished. For a second, Sombra wished that they had enough time to stop for a drink, but they really didn’t.

Of course, fate had other plans. Sombra grinned as they started to step into the room and tugged back on Sym’s hand. “Wait a sec,  _ chica. _ Things are about to get interesting. Omnics coming in up top - don’t worry, I got a plan.”

With a sigh, Symmetra brought a barrier, smirking. “Your definition of ‘interesting’, and mine, differ greatly. Possibly ‘plan’ as well.”

One of the doors up on the second floor burst open, kicked down by an Eradicator. Sombra waved a hand and a turret sounded in one of the hallways outside; an oculus squad shouted and ducked through the doorway into the cafeteria on the first floor.

Sombra’s grin sharpened in the beat of confused silence, as the omnics on the second floor and the Oculus on the first glanced between each other, and her and Symmetra. She gripped her machine pistol a little tighter.

“Lay down your weapons.” Symmetra broke the silence. “Leave, and nob-”

It was impossible to tell who fired first. The Eradicator lobbed off an arcing explosive round at the shielded pair as one Oculus soldier opened fire; another shot up toward the omnics on the catwalk around the edge of the room and several of the machines shot back, and Sombra’s machine pistol opened up with staccato flashes as well. All seemed to be simultaneous.

The Eradicator’s explosive hit a table and twisted it over to the side, and Symmetra stepped forward against it and used it to hide from the hail of gunfire that sought her. Sombra joined her for a reload, the omnic and Oculus troops continuing to rain bullets and plasma lashes at each other as well as towards the pair.

“There are no explicit security measures in the cafeteria,” Symmetra commented as she formed a crackling ball of energy in her palm. Hiding behind the now-upright table let her conserve energy that would otherwise be dedicated to the shield.

“I know!” Sombra cackled, peeking her head out to shoot at an Oculus soldier who’d taken cover from the omnics - but not from  _ her. _ “That’s why I had to chase these  _ pendejos _ in here! Had to do something to distract the bots, right?”

Symmetra sighed with a smirk, whirling around the table’s edge to fling the orb up toward the omnics. It melted a section of the catwalk’s railing, and the leg of one gazelle-like robot as it leapt off of the side. It stumbled when it hit the ground and was quickly put down by fire from two directions, Oculus and Sombra as well.

“I am sure that would be the only reason,” the Architech murmured dryly, and Sombra snickered in response. “I will take advantage of the machines’ distraction. I trust you would prefer to assault the Oculus?”

“ _ Chica _ I’m gonna assault them  _ all,” _ Sombra grinned dangerously.  _ One last hurrah. _

Holding another orb of energy aloft, Symmetra shook her head with a soft chuckle. “So be it. Do be cautious.” There was no response. She glanced over her shoulder; Sombra had disappeared. With a sigh, and a roll of her eyes, Symmetra whirled around the edge of the table and flung her projectile.

It whipped through the air, and Sombra heard it coming from behind her. She dodged underneath it and sprinted up the stairs, kicking an Oculus grunt off of them to the ground below. The Eradicator launched off another explosive, safe behind its shield that caught every bullet sent its way.

Safe from the bullets, at least.  _ Nothing _ was safe from  _ Sombra. _ She jumped up onto the railing, leapt from there onto the wall, and landed on the big omnic’s shoulder-mounted launcher with a triumphant shout. As it spun and tried to pull her off, its shield blocked bullets that might’ve otherwise hit her - purple streaked from her fingers right into its systems, and then bled through into the previously-blue shield.

Sombra’s eyes glowed violet as the omnic’s optisensors followed suit, and it started to move to her whims; a puppet on strings of purple electrical arcs. “Ooooh,” she grinned, turning the omnic to bash a small robot off of the catwalks. The others spun and concentrated their fire, but the shield easily blocked it all. “Momma  _ like!” _

Symmetra saw the Eradicator’s change in appearance and behaviour - the bright purple hue of the shield, and the same glow from its optisensors, told her exactly what was happening. She grinned as she flung another orb up toward the omnic troops, but they were rapidly dispersing into the room as bullets continued to fly. She watched the Eradicator -  _ Sombra’s _ Eradicator - leap off of the catwalks to land amongst the Oculus troops and send them scattering.

Sombra couldn’t suppress her cackling as she had the machine swing its shield-arm out and knock an Oculus grunt halfway back across the room. She wasn’t on its shoulder anymore - she hung from the underside of the stairs now, invisible, puppeting the war-machine from a distance. Bullets flew everywhere, but none were directed her way, not really.

The Eradicator took a shotgun blast to a knee servo and fell to that side, but Sombra had it whirl and lash out, knocking the gunner heavily back against the wall. A beam lanced out from the stairs - from Symmetra’s hand, as she ran up with a shield held high - and sent an Oculus soldier crumpling to his knees.

Sombra dropped her hold for a moment, letting the Eradicator take control of its systems again as she concentrated on squelching the transmissions of both sides trying to call for reinforcements.

Symmetra didn’t know where Sombra was, but she knew she was safe. Nothing could be this chaotic without her interference. Oddly, the thought brought a little smirk to her lips as she sprinted up the stairway. It was a controlled sort of chaos - terrifying, no doubt, to those caught within it, but Symmetra was spared its burdens.

The chaos whirled around her, but she was safe behind her bubble. An Oculus soldier tried to shoot her, but the bullets were caught. As they swung their rifle-butt, she ducked underneath it and swirled, sweeping the soldier’s feet out and sending them tumbling down the stairs. An omnic leapt after them and Symmetra threw an orb that fused the joints of one of the machine’s legs; it stiffened and fell, machine-gun peppering the ceiling uselessly.

She had no sympathy for these robots. They had destroyed her life, and perhaps the world’s best hope as well. They were not alive, certainly - perhaps, perhaps that doctor had been, the one who had operated on her ribs. Symmetra considered that as she reached out and caught an omnic’s plasma-flare gun, and drained the power from it - it restored her arm’s internal battery array conveniently, and she reversed the flow of energy in a burst to melt the weapon into slag as she leapt gracefully over the now-disarmed omnic which tried to strike her with a fist.

It was good that she was fighting them, and Sombra the Oculus, primarily. Not that Symmetra didn’t take opportunities that presented themselves - she did - but it suited them each well. Draining the energy from these omnics left her batteries well-charged and capable. There was something more to it, as well - as Symmetra’s lips pulled back and she shouted, kicking an omnic in the chest and knocking it over the railing, before she spun and took a knee, ducking under a volley of shots and unleashing an energy orb.

It felt good to return the favour. Her thoughts flicked back to Sombra’s words, in the Marauder.  _ “Give ‘em hell for me - god knows they’ve given it plenty. Time they got a little back.” _ It felt like balance to be destroying the destroyers. She had never really understood vengeance, and she still didn’t think she really  _ did _ , but there was something to payback at least.

She shouted as a person caught hold of her and she twirled, kicking off of the wall and knocking them both back over the railing. The landing hurt them far more than her, and she rolled off of the person and turned, lashing out with her energy beam and ensuring their immobility. Sombra appeared beside her in a cloud of purple, grin-first like the Cheshire cat, machine pistol blaring wildly.

Behind her, and Oculus trooper vaulted a table and readied their weapon, but Symmetra threw an orb at them which she’d readied for the few remaining omnics. The trooper was flung back over the table again, their chest sizzling. Sombra spun and shredded an omnic as it jumped down, and it crumpled heavily to the floor in a pile of scrap. She dropped the clip, snatched another one up from her belt, slid it into place and snapped the bolt back, and…

...and nothing.

Sombra panted heavily, a wide grin fixed on her features, looking around with wide eyes that glowed faintly as they picked out electrical signatures. None really active. No omnics, no Oculus troops hiding, but she scanned around just to be safe - a fair few dead and a lot of injuries. Some probably life-threatening, but she didn’t care. She would’ve happily gone around and finished every one of the fuckers off… but they  _ were _ on a bit of a tight schedule.

Symmetra studied the surroundings carefully, breathing heavily through her nose. Her hand was on Sombra’s far hip, and vice-versa - side to side, facing in opposite directions, surrounded by devastation.

It was impossible to tell what even was what, anymore. Bodies and pieces of the cafeteria and pieces of omnics were everywhere, some twitching, some groaning. The pieces were difficult to discern from each other - what was table, what was machine, what was human - and they blended together into unity of a sort. Blood and oil and scorches were ever-present, on every surface, and bullet holes, so many bullet holes. Four hundred seventy-three - her ocular implant helpfully informed her.

Many of them were dead. Many of them were not. Symmetra’s heart raced as she looked around at it, sucking deep lungfuls of breath through her nose. It was chaotic. It  _ was _ chaotic, yet, there was an order to it. Yet, there was a homogeny to it. Yet, it did not assault her the way chaos so consistently did.

Perhaps it was the balance of retribution. Perhaps it was Sombra being so near. Perhaps it was the hope for the future, or the knowledge that it would soon all be left behind.

Sombra made a little noise as Sym’s hand tightened at her hip and pulled her over, a metal hand flying to her hair to grab a handful as lips found lips and they both gave the kiss everything they could afford while still managing to breathe.

“Now,” Symmetra huffed, smiling, “shall we? Perhaps with less excitement.”

“Hey,” Sombra grinned goofily, “I promised you a party! Girl’s gotta deliver for her  _ chica, _ you know?”

Symmetra chuckled softly, tipping her head forward until her nose rested gently against Sombra’s. “Deliver me yourself, that is all I desire. Deliver us Moksha.”

“Well how can I pass up a request like that, hmm?” Sombra murmured with a grin, tipping her head to give Sym another brief kiss - she would’ve loved a deeper one, but people were still moving through the facility and this place wouldn’t stay safe for long.

In the corner of one eye were the security feeds, tracking the movement of everyone throughout the base - Sombra saw clouds of dots rushing down hallways, moving away from each other as they clashed and separated and came back together again. She locked doors or popped out turrets where she could, and pulled Symmetra along, holding her hand tightly and guiding the way.

The sounds of distant fighting only got worse as more and more of each side found their way into the facility. Gunshots and explosions echoed constantly now, overlaid above boots on the floors and heavy hydraulic footfalls. Screams, both organic and electronic, drifted over it all. Occasionally voices could be heard.

Symmetra tried to ignore it all as much as possible. She shrunk her world down until it was only a small bubble around her; it was not perfect, it never was, but it was something. Some way of bearing the load for a little while longer. With Sombra right there, hand in hand and the occasional whiffs of brown sugar and lavender, it was far easier to ignore the way the sounds seemed to be pulled right from her nightmares.

Sombra laid a hand against a door and took a deep breath. This was make or break time. Purple sparks lifted as she stroked her fingernails down the door’s lock, and it popped open. The door swung in and she followed it, pistol in hand.

There was nobody here.

“Excellent,” she sighed, shutting the door behind them and laying a hand over the lock. “Aaaaaand nobody’s getting in here. Okay, this might take a minute - sit tight,  _ amiga _ , I’ll get everything prepped.” She moved to a console which took up one entire wall of the fairly small room, five metres to a side and square.

One complete wall was clear, blast-proof glass - and looking through it, it was not difficult to discern  _ why _ it was blast-proof. A rocket stood there, slim and streamlined and beautiful with a dozen spotlights shining down onto it. Symmetra approached the window reverently, laying her prosthetic flat against the glass and looking out at the beauty.

There was a walkway that led to the rocket’s tip, some twenty feet above them. It was a fairly small vehicle, it seemed to her, but she had little idea of their scale - if it would take them to Moksha, she did not care for its size. It would serve its purpose magnificently, and then,  _ finally _ , so could she.

Her breath left her and she let it, reveling in the stillness and appreciation until her lungs began to draw once more. She paid them no attention, no mind - the roof above the rocket began to retract, some sand falling down in plumes that glittered in the sudden harsh sunlight as the systems began to prepare themselves. Gantries moved and lights flashed, and Symmetra watched it all in an awe.

Sombra laid her pistol down on the console so she could focus and use both hands for this. “ _ Amiga,  _ I’m gonna need a hand.” She waved and a screen popped up, with a transcript of one of the pages of the folder they’d retrieved previously. “These are the launch codes. I don’t see a place for ‘em here, but-”

“They are not codes of that sort,” Symmetra shook her head. “They are descriptions of a construct, as I mentioned earlier,” she murmured softly, stepping over to the console. Her eyes studied the instructions and a faint smile came to her lips. “It is gorgeous. Magnificent. I will begin construction promptly.”

“Thanks,” Sombra muttered, returning her attention to her own tasks. The launch codes were only one step - the  _ last _ step. Before then, there were a dozen systems which needed to be kicked into gear, which at this moment meant sequestering security lockdowns which tried to stop anything else from happening. She’d be damned if she’d just shut off all the turrets, though - not while they were giving Shiva and the Oculus hell.

There was something worrisome about it. She was looking for tracking info, flight path information - it was pre-coded, it was  _ there _ , but it didn’t make sense. The rocket wasn’t programmed as if it had to meet up with anything else, but it  _ had _ to dock with the station somehow. It couldn’t just fly up there blindly and float and hope for the station to happen by. She started to delve deeper, a frown growing on her lips as cold horror spread inside of her.

“No, no,” she started to mutter gently under her breath, “no no nononono…”

Symmetra was oblivious to it all, focusing entirely on the construction of the launch key. It had been described with a combination of numbers and constants well-known to Vishkar Architechs, and even a few other constructs as well.

Measurements of certain pieces were defined as measurements from other codes; this face was to be twice the length of the entrance door’s cube from corner vertex to corner vertex opposed, that one was three times the length of the Architech final examination’s total width. A test of memory and dedication, as well as ability, and it thrilled her.

She worked ceaselessly, weaving light with a smile and a flutter in her heart, a slight sway that spread from the motions of her hand throughout her entirety - her torso, her hips, her legs. Every piece of her moved as she worked, but only gently.

With a gentle and delighted sigh, Symmetra lifted the completed key in hand. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen, a geometric rendition of a capsule flying free from the Earth, with a complex tangled knot of hollows buried deep within the sphere and a perfect hypercube rendered above the craft to represent ascension from chaos into order.

It was finished not a moment too soon, as well. With a rough scream that would certainly have ruined Symmetra’s concentration, Sombra flung her machine pistol at the window and leapt after it, slamming her fists against the glass.

_ “FUCK  _ YOU!” She shrieked, punching the blast window with a fierceness which shocked Symmetra into recoiling, as well as breaking one of the bones in her hand. Her voice tore, ragged at the edges with pain as she shouted again. “FUCKING-  _ DAMNIT!”  _ Sombra slipped lower, sobs overtaking shouts as her fists continued to slam against the glass. “No! No, I  _ deserve  _ it! You fucking!  _ Assholes!” _

“Sombra!” Symmetra gasped, forcing herself to step forward though her body tried to recoil away. “Sombra, what-”

“No, damnit! Fuck this, I’m not- I’m no fucking  _ Rick, _ I  _ earned _ those fucking tickets, I earned my way off of this  _ fucking rock!” _ Sombra’s voice tore again and she cut off into a rough sob as she slid to the floor entirely, punching at the ground in anger.

It was frightening Symmetra. Confusing her, as well, but there was only one thing to be done about it. She stepped near and crouched behind Sombra, reaching out hesitantly and laying a hand on the hacker’s back. She began to trace the patterns of circuitry there. “Sombra. It is okay, it-”

“It’s not  _ fucking okay!” _ Sombra screamed, clutching at her own hair. “It’s- it is so fucking  _ far _ from okay, it- god  _ fucking _ damnit!” She punched at the floor weakly before collapsing into a sobbing heap and Symmetra had little option but to continue tracing the patterns.

She continued for a while. Over a minute with no change - it took that long for Symmetra to ready herself enough to be capable of actually  _ doing _ anything else. Sixty-seven seconds to quiet the rising franticness. She counted.

Taking a deep breath and swallowing, she steeled herself. “Then- then if it is  _ not _ okay, we will  _ make _ it okay,” Symmetra assured softly. She couldn’t bear to speak any louder. “But I need to know what’s happening first. Please, Sombra….”

“I fucking-” Sombra gasped, starting to shiver as the emotions unloaded themselves and gave way to cold emptiness. She wrapped her arms around herself and swallowed heavily. “I fucking deserve this,  _ chica.” _ Her words were hoarse, soft, barely whispered. “They- they never-”

“Th-  _ who _ never? Never  _ what? _ Deserve- Sombra, I don’t-” Symmetra cut herself off with a tiny whine as she bit her words back and stroked her thumb along her finger, trying to numb the frustrated tension within herself. It wasn’t quite enough, though, and she raised that hand to her mouth in a fist, biting at the tightly-curled knuckle of her index finger. That helped more.

“They never finished it.” Sombra shook her head, laying onto her side. Her eyes stared blankly, not seeing, wide and flat as tears streamed from them. “They never finished it. There is no platform.”

Symmetra felt as if something had snapped within her, but she swallowed a scream back down and bit harder onto her knuckle, leaving deep impressions in her skin. It was hardly the first time she’d lost. It was hardly the worst time. “Then- then we will find somewhere else. Something else. We will. We will  _ finish  _ it, we-”

“No,  _ amiga,” _ Sombra closed her eyes and shook her head again, lips quivering as she shook with silent sobs. “No. We…  _ we _ won’t.” She pulled herself up to a crouch and slid out of her backpack, pulling it open and tugging Oso out, holding him tight in her arms and weeping into his stupid stuffed head.

“They never finished it,” she repeated softly. “They never  _ started  _ it. Of course they wouldn’t launch a platform into space, they were too smart for that, weren’t they?” She chuckled softly, pulling her head back to meet Oso’s button eye and scratch him behind the ear. “Yeah. Why launch what you could just build up there, right?”

“Sombra,” Symmetra whispered, swallowing heavily, but the hacker didn’t seem to notice. She was locked away in a little world of her own, just her and the bear. Symmetra backed away a pace in fear and incomprehension as Sombra continued to speak.

“Yeah, they were smart, buddy. Why go to the trouble of launching all that shit pre-made when you could just send up a bunch of generators and power banks, and o- one-  _ one- _ ” she cut off in a hoarse, choked whimper, pulling her eyes from Oso’s to Symmetra’s, and it hurt as much as anything she’d ever done. It hurt as much as every wound life had ever inflicted on her, because it was time to lose everything all over again. 

“One Architech.”

Symmetra’s eyes widened and it broke Sombra’s shattered heart a little more as she crept forward, dragging herself along the floor. “You see,  _ amiga? _ We-  _ we’re _ not going anywhere,” she wept openly, messily, tears and slime coating her face but she hardly cared anymore. “There’s no station for  _ us _ to go to and that rocket out there - they could’ve fit six in it without the extra power banks. With them, though-”

“Sombra, please-”

_ “With _ them the damn thing can only lift  _ one  _ person,  _ chica,  _ and it sure-”

“-Sombra, please do not-”

“-it sure as hell ain’t fucking  _ me _ ,  _ amiga!” _

_ “SOMBRA!”  _ Symmetra shrieked and fell forward with a rough sob, wrapping her arms around the hacker, her lover, her partner. They collapsed into simultaneous anguish, trying to rid themselves of the pain through their eyes and their cries, but it didn’t work. There was too much to be expressed.

“Do-” Sombra swallowed, her rough throat almost choking on words alone. “Do me one favour. Just… just take the fucking bear. Please. He deserves better than this shithole. Do good for me up there, Symmy. Please just… just let this all be worth it?”

Symmetra clutched desperately at her own face with a hand - almost as desperately as she clutched at Sombra’s arm with the other. Their bodies heaved in horrified unison and she tried to cram all of her clawing anxiety back into its respective boxes, but it refused to go. Everything was all wrong, her skin itched underneath and her nerves were aflame and there seemed to be nothing she could do about it, but she focused and she fought, and she  _ survived. Tick tock. Tick tock. Good little clock. _

“Sombra,” she whispered hoarsely when she’d regained the capacity for speech. “Will you  _ shut up _ for ten seconds and listen to me?”

The words shocked the hacker enough to stop the crying, at least, and she pushed herself up with incomprehension plastered across her messy face. “D-did you just tell me to shut up?” She laughed abruptly through her tears. “I-I’m gonna die, and you’re telling me to shut up? I- fuck, I love you, Symmy, you-”

“That is  _ not _ shutting up,” Symmetra hissed and grabbed Sombra’s hair in frustration, clamping her other hand over the hacker’s laughing mouth. “Now, will you listen to me? Will you  _ trust _ me?”

Sombra rolled her crying eyes, but then nodded.

“When will you learn,” Symmetra started with a soft smile and tears streaming down her cheeks, her fingers loosening their grip to run through Sombra’s hair, “that nothing is impossible? All it requires is power. All  _ we _ require.”

She pulled her eyes away and looked over the the control console, at one section in particular. A large circle with a thick cylinder in the middle - one which she knew could be pulled out to reveal a length of cables behind. An electrical conduit, one of a sort she’d used before.

“So the rocket lacks the strength to lift us both?” Symmetra laughed lightly, shaking her head. “Then we shall simply make it stronger.”

Sombra’s eyes widened, but her eyebrows pulled down. “Mm-hmhmm, mmnmhm?” Symmetra removed the hand from her mouth. “I love you. That- could that really work?” She sounded as if she didn’t want to believe it. As if she couldn’t let herself.

The words helped, but they hurt. Symmetra’s heart swelled at hearing them and then wrenched painfully along with something in her gut, and it just contributed to a rising torrent of confusing feelings. Her eyes flicked to the rocket itself. “Do you believe that was made in a factory? It was not. Perhaps I lack the in-depth knowledge to manufacture an entire rocket, but simple boosters?” She laughed, shaking her head as she pulled Sombra into her lap and stroked at her head more, trying to comfort herself with the motions. It helped.

Sombra’s fingers clenched around Symmy’s prosthetic arm tight enough that it hurt her skin, but she didn’t care, she just never wanted to let go. She never, ever wanted to let go and it had ruined her to think that she needed to. “I- how… what do you need me to do?”

“First, I need you to sit up and hold me for several moments. I- I need you to stroke my hair and tell me it will be alright. Anything to calm my mind, I am- I- I require this. Then-” Symmetra swallowed, shaking her head roughly as words failed her. 

Sombra, however, didn’t. Words failed her, but Sombra didn’t; the hacker pushed herself up more and wrapped her arms swiftly around Symmetra’s shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug.

Sombra kissed at the top of her head and ran fingers through her hair, scratched nails softly at her scalp, held her hand. All the things she could think of to help. “It… it’ll be okay. Thank you. I believe in you, Symmy.” She fell quiet for a few seconds. “Out of  _ everyone _ in the fucking world _ ,  _ I believe in  _ you.” _

“Thank you,” Symmetra sobbed softly, clutching her knees to her chest. “That. That is good.”

Reassured, Sombra continued. She found that it helped to calm her too, a little bit - although the idea that maybe, just maybe, there was some way of fixing the whole mess, definitely did a lot to help too. She held out Oso in offering, and smiled when Symmy grabbed him with a sob and pulled him in tight to her chest.

“Good,” she murmured against the Architech’s hair, “you’ve got him. He’s safe with you. We’ll get through this.”

“Together?” Symmetra sobbed, and Sombra nodded as fresh tears started to fall.

“Yeah,  _ chica.  _ Together. Whatever happens… it happens together.”

For a few minutes, they stayed like that, until the freezing fire subsided from Symmetra’s nerves and she was able to breathe properly again, to think properly again. She gasped deep lungfuls of air and let them out shakily, but slowly. “Th-thank you. Thank you. Now… now you must divert power here.”

Symmetra pushed herself to her feet, clearing her throat and straightening out her uniform. She held out Oso with a smile and nodded when Sombra took him back. “This outlet here,” she gestured, walking over to the console and grabbing the metal cylinder. 

When she pulled at it, it came free of its holder and trailed a thick bundle of wires behind it that unspooled from a reel unseen within the console’s depths. She popped a panel up on her prosthetic arm with a thumbnail, and then plugged the cylindrical metal contact into it. “I will require a great amount of electricity.”

“How much?” Sombra muttered, fingers flashing over screens.

Symmetra was silent for a moment as she completed the necessary calculations. “Fifteen hundred Megawatts.”

“ _ Fifteen hu-” _ Sombra gasped, “ _ chica, _ when you-” she laughed in disbelief, then shook her head. “Wait, just…” she frowned, rubbing at her forehead. “I know these reactors. The facility can’t maintain that,  _ chica _ \- not straight, but you can run these ones over maximum nominal output for a  _ little  _ while. It uh… doesn’t end well.” Purple eyes flicked to the window, and the walkway that led to the cockpit. “It would take us too long to get up there through the hallways. If I give you… let’s say eighteen hundred, can you make us a path right from here?”

Symmetra shivered slightly, smiling and taking the launch key in hand from where it had fallen on the floor. “For eighteen hundred, I will build you a new world, yes.”

Sombra took a deep breath and held it until Symmetra looked over, and she could meet her eyes. “ _ Amiga, _ once I hit this button, we have two minutes until the reactors go critical. Maybe a little more, but on the safe side, let's say two. I know how much timing means to you. We’ll need to move fast, and uh… well, if it doesn’t work, I guess we die, heh.” She shrugged with a grin. “No big deal, right?”

“Oh, of course,” Symmetra shook her head slightly. To see Sombra smiling again was immensely reassuring, to hear the laughter under her voice. It was only when she wasn’t laughing that Symmetra worried. “All that we risk is everything. No concerns there.”

With a snicker, Sombra shrugged. “Meh. Like it’s the first time today, right?” She laughed, then glanced over to the rocket again. “Whenever you’re ready, set that launch thingy on the platform. I’ll start the countdown and  _ then _ divert the power, okay?”

Symmetra’s eyes reflected the rocket, glaring in the harsh desert sun through the window. “A good plan.” She took a deep breath, then reached out and set the launch key in place.

“Code’s been recognized,” Sombra murmured, fingers flashing at controls. “Launch countdown initiated, T-minus ninety. Dialing up the reactors… one hundred percent nominal… one twenty… one forty… and... okay, you’re good,  _ amiga. _  Eighteen hundred Megawatts. ”

“What percentage does this require?” Symmetra inquired idly as she felt the power thrumming in her arm as it hadn’t for a decade.

“Don’t ask,  _ chica,  _ ‘cause you don’t wanna know,” Sombra shook her head with a chuckle and a grin, and looked up away from the console. There was no way in hell she was going to let herself miss seeing this.

Symmetra, Satya Vaswani, the last Architech of the Vishkar corporation, took a deep breath and a pace forward. She raised her hand which was wreathed entirely in glowing light, and gently laid it against the blast glass.

It was designed to withstand the full force of repeated rocket launches with no deformation, nor damage. It would have done so admirably, would have survived a hundred blasts and more; would have taken missiles and bullets and laughed them off as raindrops. Under her gentle touch it shattered outward in a million bright shards; dissolving as it scattered in the winds. Symmetra waved her arm and  _ created _ , from light and from nothing, from the patterns in her mind - power surged through her arm, through the cables, throughout the entirety of the facility.

Vishkar’s last breath shuddered through her as she stood perfectly still, cheeks trailing tears as she wove everything that her former life had left to give. Two large booster rockets began to take shape, one on either side of the spacecraft, and gorgeous. A stairway came into being, growing from where she stood up toward the door of the spaceship, and Symmetra turned away from it.

Backlit by the glow of light taking form, she held out her organic hand and offered it to Sombra. The hacker stepped forward and took it in awe.

The systems had never been designed to deal with this much power. None of them had, not even vaguely. Electricity arced from Symmetra into Sombra, sending the hacker crumpling to the ground with a shout. Symmetra cried out and fell with her, yanking the conduit free of her arm as the lights flickered and dimmed, and died. Throughout the facility, every light died for five or ten seconds as the systems tried to cope with the overload.

“Sombra! Sombra?” Symmetra gathered the limp form in her arms. She wasn’t moving, wasn’t breathing. Symmetra’s mind blanked in horror, she lifted Sombra’s head and peered at her face as if she could accomplish anything by it.

“You- no, you cannot be,” Symmetra shook her head resolutely, one hand cradling the back of Sombra’s head. “You cannot be dead,” she murmured softly, crying silently, “I know you, you are far too clever for that. You- you will have some way of cheating it, you must, you- you-”

She cut off in agony, clutching the hacker’s head to her chest with a strained groan of a sob. “I- how can I continue without you? S-Sombra, I-” she dropped her head to look at that face again.

Limp lips, in the wrong colour. Limp hair, in the wrong colour. Closed eyes. All wrong. All wrong, it was all wrong, but it was still her.

“I don’t care what they say,” Symmetra whispered, stroking at Sombra’s cheek. “I don’t care what I  _ know _ . I don’t care anymore, Sombra. I love you. I know I love you. I know I cannot, but I know that I  _ do _ and I  _ know _ that you cannot be dead. Please? Please…”

She started to sob again, resting her chin down against Sombra’s forehead as the rocket rumbled distantly, continuing to ready its systems, unaware of the agony that was taking place so near.

“...that… that’s sweet,  _ chica, _ but we really gotta get going. Reactors and shit, you know?”

Symmetra gasped a sudden laugh, pulling Sombra in tighter and standing to her feet. “I- I thought-”

“Nah,” Sombra waved a hand weakly and coughed a chuckle. “You think with all this shit I wouldn’t have something to re-start my heart? Plus, I mean, after a stirring speech like that I’d be a real bitch to stay dead.”

“You are teasing me again,” Symmetra giggled lightly, picking up the launch key before she moved toward the stairway, still holding Sombra in her arms. She had the bear, they had their backpacks, and the new world would wait no longer.

“Nope,” the hacker sighed, letting her eyes slide closed. “For once in my life, I’m really not. I love you, Symmy.”

“I love you too, Sombra.” The words felt so right. She could scarcely believe how right the words felt; how they  _ leapt _ from her heart right out of her mouth, and she realized now that holding them back had been the true cause of the frustration to begin with. She climbed the staircase “Now, what was it you said? Let us… blow this popsicle stand?”

Sombra chuckled weakly, nodding. “You got. You got it all,  _ amiga.” _ She raised a hand to her head with a sigh and engaged the facility’s intercom systems. All throughout the hallways and rooms, her voice came loudly and clearly.

“Anybody left in here, get the fuck out. You have two minutes, tops. Consider this the one piece of common decency none of you assholes ever showed me. One last chance to save your miserable lives - count yourselves lucky I’m turning over a new peaceful leaf. I hate you all. Get the fuck outta my life.”

Symmetra carried her right over the threshold into the rocket. The space was small and cramped, but she didn’t mind in the slightest and just curled up in the Architech’s arms, both of them casting their eyes out of the little window.

The rocket rumbled ferociously as the walls started to slide downward, and then were replaced with the world outside - desert sands dropping away rapidly underneath the glare of the sun. Laser bolts flashed out but were repelled by the shields, and blue, blue sky started to darken and give way to blackness as the world fell away.

“We made it,” Symmetra stroked at Sombra’s hair.

“Yeah,” Sombra whispered, squeezing at her hand with a smile. “Together.”

“Together.”

 

\---

 

Far below the pair, above a hole in the desert sands, a trenchcoated figure stood. They crossed their arms and tilted their head back, following a trail of smoke and steam into the air. It drifted in the gentle wind above the now very dead Moksha facility. Flashes lit up the smoke from below as, through the hole, the facility began to undergo a series of explosions and short-outs as the reactors began to overload in earnest and the destruction chained throughout the entire complex.

The trenchcoated figure shook their head, sighing softly to the sky as the last glimmer of the rocket’s flames disappeared. Telemetry fed through into their sight, a small diamond surrounding the rocket and displaying height, direction, velocity, and other data.

Without looking down, they nudged a twitching omnic into the hole the rocket had flown out of. “Well,” they hummed thoughtfully, holstering a smoking shotgun at their waist, “Plan ‘D’, I suppose. You made it through the gauntlet… there’s a chance. I hope you’re worth it, ladies. You’d better be.”

They dropped their head and rested it in a metal hand which glinted in the harsh sunlight, muttering softly. “Let this all be worth it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we are. We can breathe now. Honestly I don't even know what to say, heh. What's there to say, right? I did promise more pain - and I promised they'd make it through! And they did. Together :)
> 
> I buried a bunch of little stuff in this one, and I like it all a lot. Several lines and moments that I'm quite proud of, which is always nice - any work that I look at with a smile is a good work in my books, but I really hope you folks enjoyed it too. If you've got any questions, ask them and I'd love to answer! The fic isn't quite over yet, but this story essentially is - however, there's more that could follow. Some interest has already been expressed but I'd still love to hear from other people, if they want more from this universe or more from this pair.
> 
> I've got a lot of plans for other fics. I'm working on a few right now, but I'm always looking for feedback - particularly, on _who_ you'd like to see me write for next. I have some proto-plans for a wide variety of ships, and some more solid story ideas for a smaller but still pretty decent selection, so if there's something you'd like to see me write that you just don't see enough of - a fave ship or sort of story that doesn't have as many fics as you'd like, or you think I'd do a good job of, then please let me know!
> 
> Anyway, I'd like to thank you all for coming along on this little ride with me! Like I said, it's not _quite_ over yet, but we're out of the woods now and I'd like to thank you for sticking by me. I know it can be rough to let yourself get invested without knowing where it'll end up, but you've all been wonderful. Your comments and messages and kudos and bookmarks, and everything else - so, so so very appreciated by me, and thank you so much!
> 
> EDIT: Oh wait wait! I forgot a soundtrack for this one that I meant to include! Yes, yes, this chapter is soundtracked by [Season of Love, by the Shiny Toy Guns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=612xM2UGhLM). Lyrics!:  
>  _"Every question, every answer too;  
>  Ever constant, ever-changing view;  
> It's a memory in the sun,  
> Or it's there, in the darkness...  
> Maybe it's all around to see, if we try?  
> Maybe it's been inside of me, all this time...  
> Love, love, love."_
> 
> Come back next time when it all gets wrapped up. A little fluffy epilogue to solidify the smiles (that are hopefully on your faces, maybe with some tears dripping onto them?)


	16. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've made it into space. Now it's time to make the station, and then, time to make a new world. A new life. Together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: stylistically pretty different from the rest, because epilogue. No warnings necessary, I think.

The station came together easily enough, though it was not a swift endeavour. When the rocket reached its apogee and settled into a stable orbit, the pair had spent a while simply looking out of the window at the planet down below and holding each other. Eventually, Sombra had drifted off to sleep, and after a few more minutes Symmetra began her work.

Vishkar had included quite a comprehensive database of schematics onboard the ship, with outlines for the station’s overall design as well as specifics of timeline. They were overseen by a class-four AI; not a true intelligence, but a scripted form of prompt-and-response engine which could approximate some level of thought. No personality whatsoever, but it knew the plan such as it had been and readily answered questions when asked. Of course, this was a plan designed for a world which no longer existed, and Symmetra knew better than to follow it precisely, but as a guideline it was magnificent.

Firstly came the habitation module, a moderately sized cylinder with little space but substantial life support systems. The rocket’s own were somewhat taxed by having two persons aboard - Sombra slept for hours as Symmetra worked, occasionally light-headed from the relative depletion of oxygen. There was no need for the airlocks in the designs, given that there would be no other arrivals to the station, and leaving them out saved her precious time before she got the life-support systems finished.

When the habitation module was complete, she tugged Sombra weightlessly through into it and stripped them both down, folding their clothes and tucking them into a small locker before she wrapped them both up in a large sleeping bag which was tethered to the wall.

In her whole life, Satya Vaswani had never slept so soundly, so thoroughly, or so well.

Work was slowed by a variety of things in the coming weeks. The second stage that required construction was a solar array, to aid the power banks in recharging more quickly - until its completion, frequent breaks were required to let the cells replenish. The pair passed the time talking or joking or kissing, or watching cartoons and eating the freeze-dried rations which had been installed into the rocket. Of course, they needed to be careful not to deplete them too quickly. They had only ever been intended for one person.

As a result, Symmetra next dedicated herself to the artificial gravity generator, which was required as a predecessor to the hydroponics lab. Hydroponics came next, and Sombra found that she couldn’t help but smile as she planted seeds deep in the damp, slightly warm soil. She’d jettisoned her own clothing out of the trash chute on the second day. She called it an accident, but her smirk said otherwise.

At first, Symmetra found herself not infrequently struck by overwhelming waves of emotions. A mention of her name in the ship’s database, the realization that it held the full schematics to create new hard-light generators, the glint of the sun off of the solar arrays or off of Sombra’s gorgeous purple eyes. It seemed to take little to knock her off of her feet, so to speak, but it was never an issue. Sombra simply came over and held her, and kissed her, and stroked at her hair. They murmured softly that they loved each other, and neither of them felt a touch of fear or pain in it.

After hydroponics, the way was more open. Their physical requirements were met - food, water, air, power. As the station gained mass, its orbit sought to decay, but the introduction of an array of thrusters gave it the velocity required to lift into a higher, more stable orbit.

Next, she undertook what she considered the greatest personal requirement of them all: an addition to the habitation module, a proper room. She had devoted hours and hours of focus to the task of designing their living space since meeting Sombra, and when it was finished, it was perfectly to her design. Oso went on his shelf. The launch key went on its own. A third remained blank for now. No longer did she think of them as Sombra’s shelves, or her shelves; they were all simple theirs.

Symmetra’s breaks became more frequent as she began to work on the power accumulator batteries, and Sombra insisted she was overstressing herself. She began to find ways to distract the Architech or sabotage her concentration, and while it was frustrating at first, Symmetra quickly saw it for the gesture of care that it was and began to concede to Sombra’s assertions that a period of relaxation was required. Cartoons became more frequent, or simply holding each other and looking out at the stars. It usually lasted until Sombra got bored and turned the matter into a tickle fight.

The hydroponics lab was six percent more productive than originally designed, thanks to Symmetra’s improvements, and led to an output of water that was increased by almost eleven percent. Along with a three-percent uptick in electrical generation (and four percent savings due to coding corrections on Sombra’s part), Symmetra decided to construct a heated shower. They both agreed it was one of her better ideas, and one of her more wonderful pieces of work; three of its walls were clear and opened out into space.

Now, it was the last day of the old world. The day of demise for all that had led to this, the beginning of the end for a planet and a people who had been lingering ill for far too long, but death like this was not the horror that some people thought. Every ending is a beginning as well.

Symmetra’s eyes glistened in the sunlight as she finished the last sections of the primary laser, and her hand held tightly onto Sombra’s. Two glasses poured with scotch, two ice cubes each - the bottle untouched since their launch - sat on the console in front of them. The two women stood before a wide window, the laser array stretching out below them at the Earth, and it was beautiful.

Sombra thought it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. The blue planet didn’t look so sick up here, and she figured maybe the _planet_ never was anyway. Maybe it was just people. They didn’t have a place to turn and she knew maybe better than anyone that people did stupid things when they were scared. The more she listened to Symmy talk about her Vision, the less crazy it sounded - when they’d been on the ground, it had been nonsense. Now, though, she was living in a space station that had been built by hand by the woman she loved. Nothing seemed impossible these days.

Symmetra spared a look over, meeting Sombra’s tearful eyes. She suspected they were happy tears, and a small frown communicated her thoughts on the matter. Sombra nodded slightly with a brief laugh. It was a code they’d developed, over time, and it put her at ease entirely. “I love you, Sombra.”

“You’re gonna make me ruin my makeup, _chica,”_ the hacker croaked with a chuckle, wiping at her eyes. She wasn’t wearing any, of course - but jokes still made it easier. She may have been living in space, but not everything got left behind so easily. “I love you too. A lot. We’ll be over it in two minutes, by the way.” She swiped a hand and a display popped up over the window, a section of the land below circled with a timer next to it as it rotated slowly into view.

“Mmm. How will we _ever_ spend such a long interval?” Symmetra smiled, raising her eyebrows evenly and tugging Sombra in close. Her hair was back to purple now, the way it was supposed to be, and it was all the softer between Symmetra’s fingers in the lower-than-Earth-level gravity. Sometimes they still turned off the generator, to let themselves float and spin. They danced, they held each other, they stared out at the moon and the stars.

A soft beep notified them when the target was fifteen seconds from being within range, and they took a few seconds disentangling their limbs and lips before turning to the window once more. Symmetra reached out and took Sombra’s hand in hers again, placing them both gently on a large red button - originally it had been a simple command segment like any other, but Sombra had insisted that, for theatrics, it needed to be a large red button instead of a little touch-key.

Standing there before the dawn of the world’s rebirth, hand in hand with her fingers resting across that wide, curved metal surface, Symmetra knew that the hacker had been correct. This was definitely a desired addition. All of this was. “To a new world,” she murmured, taking her glass of scotch in her other hand and clinking it gently against Sombra’s.

“A new world,” Sombra repeated with a tip of her head and a smile. “Together. Cheers.”

They each took a sip and pressed down on the button together - the accumulators hummed and whirred and the primary laser array thrummed as it burst into light, streaming in a thick beam down to the planet’s surface below. It didn’t pulse, it didn’t waver; it was perfectly smooth and as precise as any surgical implement.

Miles away from any remaining organic life, the once-Vishkar city of Utopaea - now a nest of the God-program Shiva - was dissolved by a shaft of light from the heavens. In minutes, every scrap of the city was gone; what once had been borne by hard-light, now unmade by the same.

Symmetra sighed as the array powered down into a recharge cycle. It seemed like a fitting test and first use, to undo what she considered the largest scar upon the Earth. Now they had a clear space from which to begin, a blank canvas upon which to paint a world in which all would be supported, in which none would need to fear. She leaned gently to the side and tipped her head over until it met softly with Sombra’s, squeezing her hand.

_Together._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much. This has been legitimately a fun and emotional undertaking for me, and I'm so glad that you've all been here with me for it! Also, for anyone who finds this later, I'm glad you're here too even if you missed it while it was happening :)
> 
> This isn't the end for these two ladies! It's the end of this story, though. There will be more to follow eventually, yes - I'm thinking I'll do some just mostly slice-of-life type thingies about life in space, and then follow it up with more plot, but those'll be separate stories. I'll do them up as a series here though, so you can keep an eye out for that :)
> 
> In the meantime, I'll be doing other things! If you have a preferred ship or situation, please let me know :D I'm gonna try to keep to two or maybe three chapter-based stories at a time, and occasional standalones along the side! As a sidenote, this would seem to be the longest Symbra story - right now, at least, so that's something I guess, haha!
> 
> Decided to go for 16 chapters on this for a few reasons. Originally I was going to try for thirteen because it's a prime number, but that was way too rushed so I went for sixteen instead, which turned out being better anyway, I think - it's a square and a cube, which I figured was appropriate for Symmetra; not only that, but it's in fact the ~~cube~~ (NO IT'S NOT IT'S NOT THE CUBE it's the hypercube I guess you could say, whatever, fourth power - thank you to Eterya for noticing because I clearly was not paying attention  >.>) fourth power of the smallest prime. 4^2=16, 2^4=16- plus, I did it as fifteen and an epilogue, so you could arguably count 1+2+3+4+5=15. Uh... I dunno, the numbers occurred to me as a random afterthought, and then my mind kind of dwelt on it (clearly, heh :D). Anyway.
> 
> So...yup! Don't know what to do here, never finished a chaptered fic like this before, heh.
> 
> You're all really great. I hope you had a lot of fun, thank you so much for being here - I'd love to hear from you! Have a good day!

**Author's Note:**

> You're all great people and you should have fun! Thank you so much for reading!


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